00:00:00.000While discussing diplomatic relations during a press gaggle this week, President Trump casually announced the United States would be allowing 600,000 Chinese nationals to enter the United States as college students.
00:00:13.180The president has always been focused on improving American relations with China, but the move to import and educate large numbers of their students is at odds with the America First position of his voters.
00:00:25.420When Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was later asked why it was so important to import these 600,000 Chinese students, he claimed that without the foreign admissions, many U.S. universities would go out of business.
00:00:39.120This seems like nothing but upside for the right, which can simultaneously end large-scale immigration from a geopolitical rival and get rid of failing universities that are teaching kids to hate America.
00:00:50.920Instead, the Trump administration seems poised to prop up wasteful anti-American universities by providing educations to the children of our most dangerous opponent.
00:01:01.780We are told repeatedly by every conservative politician and pundit that China is our greatest threat.
00:01:08.280The country hosts a massive population, wields incredible economic power, makes deep investments in securing natural resources, and seeks to expand its sphere of influence.
00:01:19.840China has a large, if untested, military with advanced weaponry and a spy network which regularly operates in the United States.
00:01:27.960I'm doubtful that the U.S. will ever find itself in a direct hot war with China, but it's fair to describe the country as our greatest economic and geopolitical rival.
00:01:37.960So why in the world are we letting Chinese nationals into the country, much less educating them?
00:01:44.800America already has a massive immigration problem which has devastated our job market, housing market, medical system, and educational system.
00:01:53.080Illegal immigration was the first priority for obvious reasons.
00:01:57.820Illegal immigrants are unvetted, are often brought in by drug cartels and foreign gangs, and have violated the law.
00:02:04.000But increasingly, people realize that legal immigration is also a problem.
00:02:09.380The Trump administration recently revealed that there are more than 55 million active visa holders eligible for entry into the United States.
00:02:17.580That's as many people as live in Florida and Texas combined.
00:02:20.860The American people are tired of taking a backseat to foreigners and want to see illegal immigration end completely while cutting legal immigration drastically.
00:02:31.220Chinese nationals should be one of the most obvious targets for reducing immigration.
00:02:36.700If China truly is our greatest rival, then it should stand to reason that we should not allow any of their people to enter our country.
00:02:44.480The Chinese are notorious for their extensive spy network, which has successfully infiltrated the U.S. government, military, corporate bureaucracies, and universities.
00:02:55.200These spies are interested in state secrets for sure, but they're also interested in stealing technology and scientific research like the kind that happens in university departments.
00:03:03.640Eric Weinstein has gone so far as to suggest that this is why we've experienced very little advancement in physics over the last 50 years.
00:03:12.320Universities are intentionally hampering the programs because if they discover something dangerous that could actually be used as a weapon,
00:03:19.360there'd be too many foreign students who could steal it and take it to their home countries.
00:03:22.900It appears insane that we would limit our own scientific advancement just so we could more safely import foreign spies onto U.S. soil,
00:03:31.480but it seems like that's exactly what's happening.
00:03:33.960In addition to exposing our secrets, universities are also educating the next generation of leaders in a rival state.
00:03:41.800Elite universities are the gateway to power and status.
00:03:44.860In addition to imparting skills in critical areas like math and science, they confer a credential that allows access to other elite institutions.
00:03:54.280If the Chinese student obtains the knowledge and then returns home, they can use it to strengthen their nation's attempt to compete with the United States.
00:04:02.760If instead the student stays in the U.S., they'll likely use their credential to enter elite corporations or other critical organizations.
00:04:10.240These are the institutions that shape our culture, drive our economy, and influence our politics.
00:04:15.760Why would you intentionally install foreign nationals from your greatest rival into the leadership class of your most critical institutions?
00:04:23.460On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz comes an unprecedented exhibition about one of history's darkest moments.
00:04:31.780Auschwitz, not long ago, not far away, features more than 500 original objects, first-hand accounts, and survivor testimonies that tell the powerful story of the Auschwitz concentration camp,
00:04:45.140its history and legacy, and the underlying conditions that allowed the Holocaust to happen.
00:04:54.680There's also the very important question of who American universities exist to serve.
00:04:59.880In his Fox News interview, Secretary Lutnick admitted that these students would be displacing Americans from top-tier universities and forcing them to go to lower-tier schools.
00:05:11.000It's not speculation to assert that these foreign students are stealing educational opportunities from Americans.
00:05:17.780The administration is admitting it openly.
00:05:20.460If conservatives are now operating from the stated goal of putting America first,
00:05:24.860then they can't be involved in displacing Native students in favor of foreign adversaries.
00:05:30.520Our children deserve top priority when it comes to benefiting from American educational opportunities.
00:05:36.840They shouldn't be treated like an afterthought for institutions that are recipients of our tax dollars.
00:05:42.880Lutnick also asserted that Chinese students are necessary because they boost income for the universities.
00:05:49.480Foreign students usually pay much higher tuitions and don't receive aid.
00:05:53.160The idea that universities are somehow too big to fail and that it's the government's job to bail them out with student visas is ridiculous.
00:06:01.320Most of these institutions make lots of money and many of them have massive endowments that they don't even need to touch.
00:06:07.360If some do actually go out of business, well, that's just the market in action.
00:06:12.360I seem to remember Republicans being big fans of market forces and opposing the bailout of failing businesses.
00:06:18.540Most importantly, universities are generally breeding grounds for left-wing radicals that brainwash students into hating America.
00:06:27.280Obviously, we still need to train doctors and engineers,
00:06:30.880but there's zero reason for Trump to bail out these institutions through immigration.
00:06:35.960Republicans should be making the universities beg for mercy,
00:06:40.000fearing that if they don't purge their hateful anti-American, anti-Christian bias,
00:06:44.880they'll lose government funding entirely.
00:06:46.540Instead, they're receiving welfare through immigration from our greatest geopolitical rival.
00:06:53.880Now, it's always important to remember that Trump says a lot of things that he never actually intends to do.
00:06:59.580He might be just using the statement as some form of bargaining strategy.
00:07:03.360It's clear that he's been negotiating with Xi Jinping.
00:07:06.340But American sovereignty shouldn't be a bargaining chip for a better trade deal.
00:07:10.160Chinese enrollment peaked in 2020 with 372,000, and it settled back to 277,000 in 2024.
00:07:20.380The proposed 600,000 would be more than double the current enrollment when the correct number should be zero.
00:07:27.960It's time to stop importing our own enemies for the gain of our ruling class.
00:07:32.700America first should mean that American universities exist for Americans.
00:07:37.520Now, news is actually breaking as I record this that the Trump administration has announced that it actually will not be admitting 600,000 more Chinese students,
00:07:49.040that the number of visas from China will remain the same.
00:07:54.040They listen to the fact that people did not like this decision and they're scaling it back.
00:07:58.640But my whole point in this essay is that the number should be zero.
00:08:02.740Yes, it's ridiculous that they were even considering double that number, but there is just no reason we should be admitting any of these people.
00:08:09.620So I'm glad to see the responsiveness.
00:08:11.840I'm glad, as always, like I said, try to take things with a grain of salt because of the way Trump talks as opposed to his action.
00:08:18.660But it's also important that we let the administration know how we feel because it does seem like they respond pretty quickly when they hear a lot of this stuff.