Bill moved to kill work programme for foreign students in US

It has to be passed by the House and the Senate - both of which are controlled by Democrats - to reach the president’s desk for enactment, the chances of which appear extremely dim.

A group of Republican Congressmen re-introduced last week a legislation to eliminate a temporary employment programme for foreign students during their studies in US colleges or on completion of their courses called Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme .

The US Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

“At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivising foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government programme should be eliminated,” said Paul Gosar, one of the four members of the House of Representatives, who moved the legislation.

The other three are Representatives Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks and Any Biggs. All four are staunch loyalists of former president Donald Trump, who, while in office, had pushed for and effected hardline anti-immigrant polities in the name. Among other things, he had introduced measures to tighten the H-1B programmes.

Gosar, Biggs and Brooks also face questions for their role in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol by Trump supporters who wanted to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election.

The Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act 2020, as the legislation is called, will have to be passed by the House and the Senate - both of which are controlled by Democrats - to reach the president’s desk for enactment, the chances of which appear extremely dim. To become law, it will need to be signed by another Democrat, President Joe Biden, who has shown no inclination to support any of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, and has, in fact, rescinded many of them.