Trump’s international pupil insurance policies alarm Rep. Ro Khanna: They’re ’embedded in Silicon Valley’

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California warned Tuesday that the country’s financial system and ability pipeline may just take successful if international scholars choose towards attending faculties within the United States as a result of President Donald Trump’s visa insurance policies.

“The reality is that you have people like Elon Musk who were foreign students, I mean, they have been embedded in Silicon Valley and the companies that have been created,” Khanna stated on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, stated that world-class tutorial alternatives for international scholars are considered one of America’s “biggest exports of anything.”

“You go talk to Stanford, you talk to other state colleges, many of them rely on international students to be able to have the employment they do.” Foreign scholars who pay complete freight additionally “help defray the cost so American students don’t have to pay as much.”

During the 2023-2024 faculty yr, International scholars contributed kind of $43.8 billion to the U.S. financial system consistent with the nonpartisan nonprofit NAFSA, the Association of International Educators.

Widely observed as a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, Khanna has constructed a name as an outspoken recommend for insurance policies that inspire tech innovation and entrepreneurship.

This has once in a while put Khanna and his birthday party at odds.

He’s additionally been an outspoken critic of the Trump management’s efforts to goal global scholars as a part of its crackdown on each immigration and innovative campus tradition at one of the crucial country’s most sensible universities.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security moved to revoke Harvard University’s skill to sign up global scholars, marking a dramatic escalation of the management’s efforts to compel the college to undertake the Trump management’s ideological positions.

A federal pass judgement on has paused the ban from taking impact.

But professionals stated the DHS order would have a chilling impact on international scholars nonetheless deciding whether or not to check within the U.S. subsequent fall — irrespective of the felony combat enjoying out in courts.

Khanna has up to now criticized the Harvard ban — and referred to as on Silicon Valley tech leaders to talk up towards it.

In a put up on X final month, Khanna identify checked David Sacks, Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and different tech titans, asking in the event that they had been “willing to speak out against” the ban on global scholars at Harvard.

“I know … that there is not a single tech leader who can defend this on the merits,” Khanna wrote.