After President Trump halted an Obama-era program for foreign nationals wanting to start business in the United States, big business and the open borders lobby are outraged.
The International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) was put in place two years ago by then-President Obama through executive order, essentially creating a new visa program for foreign nationals, as Breitbart Texas reported. Instead of coming to the U.S. on an employer-sponsored visa, foreign nationals wanting to start business were given leave to remain in the country for at least 2 and a half years.
In an order by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Secretary John Kelly announced that the program would be stopped to at least March 2018.
In response, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates’ open borders organization, FWD.us, said Trump’s decision is “extremely” disappointing.
“This is unquestionably a setback for the United States in the global race for talent – we should be encouraging innovators to bring their new ideas, expertise, and unique skills to our country, rather than incentivizing them to put their talents to work for our competitors abroad,” FWD.us Todd Schulte said in the statement.
“Members of the tech and business communities made their voices heard on the necessity of the IER, and we are dismayed that the Administration has chosen to ignore the advice of so many job creators,” Schulte said.
Also upset by the Trump decision are top executives at the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), along with AOL.com co-founder Steve Case.
“Today’s announcement is extremely disappointing and represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the critical role immigrant entrepreneurs play in growing the next generation of American companies,” NVCA President Bobby Franklin said in a statement.
“At a time when countries around the world are doing all they can to attract and retain talented individuals to come to their shores to build and grow innovative companies, the Trump Administration is signaling its intent to do the exact opposite,” Franklin continued. “Despite this setback, NVCA will continue to educate the Trump Administration on the important role immigrant founders play in growing our economy while advocating for full implementation of the rule.”
Case was equally upset by Trump closing the loophole for foreign nationals, writing on Twitter, “Big mistake. Immigrant entrepreneurs are job makers, not job takers.”
Big business elites and the open borders lobby have long been opponents of Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, especially on the immigration and visa programs front.
When Trump announced a “full legal review” of the H-1B visa, which takes hundreds of thousands of American jobs every year and gives them to foreign nationals, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce balked at the plan, as Breitbart Texas reported.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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