Obama warns against turning away 'the best and the brightest'

04.12.2009
At the White House jobs summit held yesterday, President Barack Obama warned against closing the door on foreign students, calling them one of the country's "greatest competitive advantages."

Some, he said, could even create the next Intel Corp. in the U.S.

Obama didn't mention or cite any of the pending visa legislation in Congress in his remarks, but by referring to foreign students as the "best and the brightest," he used a phrase widely used by supporters to defend and opponents to deride the H-1B visa program.

Obama opened up on the need to admit foreign students in response to a fairly broad query from a summit participant about the need to ease visa regulations for cultural and academic use.

"I think it is important for us not to get into a bunker mentality. That's not America's strength," Obama said. "Our strength has always been in saying 'yes' to the rest of the world, inviting ideas and different cultures and commerce. We have not seen the same kinds of openness, I think, over the last several years that I'd like to see," he added, according to a White House transcript of the remarks.

Addressing the issue of foreign students specifically, Obama said, that, "one of the great things about this country is we get the best and the brightest talent to study here, and once they study here they start enjoying the intellectual freedom and the entrepreneurship, they decide to stay, and they start new businesses. Suddenly you've got a whole new generation of folks who are creating Intel or other extraordinary businesses."