Trump's Immigration Clampdown Hurts the Heartland

Donald Trump was elected to the presidency on a promise to revive the economies of struggling regions. He drew strength from small cities and towns in the Midwest and the South. But the administration’s hasty, poorly-thought-out policies toward immigrants and foreign students are putting many of those places in grave danger. Trump and his advisers seem to be unaware of the degree to which local economies in the heartland depend on universities -- and of how much those universities rely on foreign students.

The president’s first executive order on immigration restricted travel and denied re-entry by visa holders from several majority-Muslim countries. That is already affecting students at a number of American universities. Circulated drafts of the next executive order contain a provision severely limiting foreign students’ ability to work while in the United States.