Paula Dwyer , Columnist

Give Green Cards to Tech Graduates? Yes, But Take Care

Clinton's idea to give green cards to STEM students requires some surge protectors.

July 7, 2016 at 1:30 PM UTC

Paula Dwyer is a senior editor with the New York editing hub, focusing on daily and long-form enterprise. She was London bureau chief for Businessweek and Washington economics editor for the New York Times, and is a co-author of “Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future.

I'm very tech-friendly.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Hillary Clinton has a long checklist of proposals intended to show voters, millennials especially, her tech-friendliness. But one suggestion has caused dissension: Her support for stapling a green card to the diplomas of foreign students who earn advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math in the U.S.

This idea for making it easy for skilled immigrants to stay in the U.S. isn't new, and it has had some bipartisan support. President Barack Obama suggested the stapled green card in his first term, as did Mitt Romney in his 2012 presidential campaign. Silicon Valley executives have long advocated it to address what they claim is a shortage of qualified high-tech workers. One U.S. senator, Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona, has even sponsored the Staple Act.