[Wash Times] Nearly 1.2 million foreign students are living and studying at schools in the U.S., Homeland Security reported Friday, with the vast majority of those coming from Asia.
The data, collected by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from its student and exchange visitor database, said the number is up 2 percent compared to 2016.
China dominates the program, with 362,368 students, trailed by India at 206,698.
More than 500,000 of the students are pursuing science, technology, engineering or math degrees -- a group that has been the focus of intense debate.
Business leaders say those are the kinds of workers the U.S. needs, and have proposed granting quick paths to citizenship to them to keep them here. But technology worker advocates worry about competition with American citizens in those fields. |