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Four Republican senators wrote to President Trump Thursday calling on him to suspend the optional practical training program, a program that allows international students to stay in the U.S. to work for up to three years after graduating while staying on their student visas.
The letter from Senators Tom Cotton, of Arkansas; Ted Cruz, of Texas; Chuck Grassley, of Iowa; and Josh Hawley, of Missouri, argues that “there is certainly no reason to allow foreign students to stay for three additional years just to take jobs that would otherwise go to unemployed Americans as our economy recovers.”
The letter also calls on Trump to suspend certain categories of guest worker visa programs, including the H-1B skilled worker program, which is used by many in higher education-related jobs.
The ability to work in the U.S. after graduating through OPT is attractive to many international students. A study commissioned by the Business Roundtable in 2018 found that reducing international student enrollment and OPT participation would negatively affect the economy and lead to job losses, a result the study said “reinforces the findings of myriad prior studies that show that foreign-born workers actually create jobs for native-born workers on aggregate, rather than displace them.”
Before the pandemic, the Trump administration signaled its intent to rewrite the rules governing practical training programs for international students, but the administration has not provided details of its plans.
