Commentary:
While I was studying for my degrees at the University of New Mexico, I took multiple classes with foreign students studying in the U.S. I made friends from Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, China, India, and Australia. My social circle included a married couple from Taiwan studying computer science. They were so kind to serve us traditional Chinese food that was better than anything I had ever tasted in a Chinese restaurant. These friendships made me yearn to travel the globe and see the countries they were from.
Throughout my career, I have had foreign students work for my company. While most people generally think that this is a good opportunity for these students to gain work and cultural experience in the U.S., having foreign students in the U.S. is just as much about what they give to us as what they learn here. I have had interns from countries such as Mexico, Israel, and Brazil. I have received an education in Mexican culture, what living in Israel is like, and a better understanding of Brazilian culture, not to mention how to make caipirinhas, Brazil’s national drink.
Over the past century, the U.S. has been the country where the world’s talent comes to become educated. The U.S. is a repository of young, foreign talent that strengthens our educational systems. Many of these foreign students stay in the U.S. to inject their talent into U.S. companies. Over the years, I have worked with foreigners who came to the U.S. as students, and eventually became nationalized American citizens. Several times, I sponsored visas for foreign students who graduated from U.S. institutions to work in my company, and some eventually became my full-time employees.
These former foreign students were often the smartest and hardest-working employees in my company. I witnessed their hunger to succeed, given their opportunity to study and make their careers in the U.S. They often become some of the world’s renowned scientists while working in the U.S. Some of my former foreign students have become doctors, businesspeople, and public officials.
It’s not just the talent that foreign students are bringing to U.S. educational institutions. According to the Association of International Educators, in the 2023-2024 school year, hundreds of thousands of foreign students contributed more than $43 billion to the U.S. economy. That is not an insignificant amount of money.
Because of my positive experience with foreign students, I find it very disturbing to see the Trump Administration’s actions, such as the detaining of foreign students who have provided a pro-Palestinian viewpoint on the conflict in Gaza, the attempt to deny Harvard the ability to enroll foreign students, cutting federal funding of academic programs, and the quiet removal of thousands of foreign students from Homeland Security’s immigration database.
The federal government is also reviewing more than 1,200 Fulbright scholarships awarded to foreign students for study and research in the U.S. The renowned Fulbright scholarship program itself is currently under attack. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has submitted a proposal to cut the funding for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs from $691 million to $50 million, which would drastically reduce the size of the Fulbright program. In response to these actions, the entire twelve members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced their resignation. The Fulbright program provides support to approximately 8,000 students and artists in cultural exchange programs, including the 1,200 foreign students who are currently participating.
These attacks on foreign students and on decades-old exchange programs promise to make foreign students think twice about coming to the U.S. to pursue their studies. This will result in a talent drain and economic losses in the U.S. The U.S. will be less apt to harness this talent in our economy once foreign students graduate, because fewer students will be doing so. American students will have fewer chances to have the opportunities I had to study along foreign students and to learn about their cultures and traditions. All of this will result in a less rich America, both economically and culturally.
Jerry Pacheco is the president of the Border Industrial Association. Jerry Pacheco's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.