New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been one of the most vocal supporters of immigration reform, supporting various causes and advocacy organizations over the past several months.
As commencement speaker during Stanford University’s gradation ceremony this past Sunday, Bloomberg stressed the need for comprehensive immigration reform for many of the school’s 5,000 graduates.
Some 30% of this year’s graduating class are attending the school on student visas, and many of them will be required to leave the country before those expire. This is something that Bloomberg said needs to change.
“We invite foreign students to study here, we subsidize the universities they attend with research funding and other aid, and then, after those students have mastered the material, we tell them to go somewhere else,” Bloomberg said during the commencement ceremony. “It’s the most backward economic policy you could possibly come up with, and I’ve called it national suicide. Every international STEM student graduating here today should have a green card stapled to his or her diploma – so they can help our economy grow.”
Bloomberg also used the platform to push for the New York Dream Act and other similar measures which would allow undocumented youth brought here by their parents when they were children to apply for financial aid.
“Every child brought to this country illegally should have the opportunity to apply for financial aid and go to college – they have done nothing wrong,” he added.
