WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to discuss his new bill, the Student Visa Integrity Act, which would prevent students from adversarial countries like China, Iran, and Afghanistan from attending American colleges and universities.
Excerpts from the interview can be found below and the full interview can be viewed on YouTube or Rumble.
ON STUDENT VISA INTEGRITY ACT:
BARTIROMO: “Welcome back. Well, the number of international students enrolled at U. S. colleges and universities surging in recent decades. An Open [Doors] report showing 1,126,000 students were enrolled in U. S universities in the 2023-2024 school year. That’s up 6.6% from the year earlier. But the trend could be bucked by the Trump Administration’s increased vetting of student visa holders and seekers. Joining me now is Alabama Senator, Tommy Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Agriculture committees.
Senator, you have a new bill in the works related to this. I want to ask you about that, as we know that some of our adversaries have been abusing the visa process, sending students here to get student visas and then using it as surveillance tactics. What can you tell us?”
TUBERVILLE: “Maria, it’s out of control. My act is [the] Student [Visa Integrity] Act, and all that does is we keep [an] eye on China, Iran.
I was at a graduation ceremony the other day. […] 40 Chinese nationals got their degrees in engineering and cyber. We are funding our own demise. And so, [there are] 1 or 2 million foreign nationals in our universities. It’s growing every day. Our enrollment is actually dropping. Americans are not going to universities anymore, they can’t get in. And so we have to do something about this.
In ’93, Maria, what happened is the World Trade Center bombing happened. The visa program […] allowed a foreign national to stay in. […] We monitored that from a federal government standpoint. We started what we call the [Student and Exchange Visitor Information System] to monitor foreign nationals – we dropped the ball on that. Now we have [nearly] 15% Iranians that overstay their visa, 20% Afghan nationals that overstay their visa.
We have huge problems. We have to monitor that. So, that’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to help President Trump. I’m starting this act to redo this mandate that the Congress put on back in ‘93 and mandated in 2003 and saying ‘Listen, no more Iranian or Chinese nationals in our universities.’ We have to watch funding and dealings to our universities. They have to report that. We have to do everything we possibly can to penalize universities that drop the ball on this agenda, because if we don’t do that, we are not going to educate our kids, and we’re going to fund our own demise.”
BARTIROMO: “Well, I think it’s a really important point that you make. I mean, are the universities unaware of how our adversaries abuse this? Because one point that I’ve been making is that for the last 10 years of attacks on President Trump, what you’ve had is the Democrats using politics over national security. And, for all of those years they were yelling, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ trying to take down their political enemy in President Trump, China was eating our lunch. Whether it be abusing the visa process, abusing student visas, or ensuring that the critical supply chains were in China. So, how long have you known about this, Senator? Okay, so my thought is: how come your colleagues on the left are not screaming about this? Because this is a very serious issue that you raise.”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, they don’t want to upset the applecart with their base, and their base is really for any foreign national coming here, educating, staying past their visas, possibly getting them to vote. But, Maria, in the Northeast, 40-70% of the universities’ enrollment […] is foreign nationals. This is ridiculous. It’s getting out of control, and what’s happening, they don’t have to pay taxes. They’re non-profit. And so, we have to do something about this. We gotta wake up and smell the roses here, because we are funding the end of our country. Because all these Chinese come over—now, they’ll leave their visa on time and they’ll go back home—but they take everything they possibly can with them in terms of everything that they learned.”
BARTIROMO: “Todd Piro, it would be OK if these students were just coming to actually get an education, but in some cases, they’re not. They’re actually taking the queue of their adversarial government and doing what they’re told to do, like surveillance.”
PIRO: “100%, and you obviously hit on the number one topic here. I’m going to see if there’s an opportunity for a win-win here, Senator. Is there a way, legally, within your bill, to not only keep our enemies from getting an education, but to your point about the Northeast schools, writing something in there that ensures American schools are primarily there for American students? Because you hit the nail on the head, Senator, when you said you know of people who just aren’t getting into these schools, when a couple of years ago, maybe they would have.”
TUBERVILLE: “You’re exactly right, Todd. They are turned down. They apply, but they can’t get in because there’s no slots for them because [of] all the foreign nationals coming in. We’ll have that in our bill, by the way, that’s already in there.
We want to make sure we limit the number that comes in. But we surely want to limit our adversaries. We want to do away with Iran, North Koreans, or Chinese nationals getting into this country and learning how to destroy the United States of America and our allies.”
BARTIROMO: “Yeah. But you’re going to need the Democrats to report on this, Senator. […] I mean, just look at where we are. We’re in a critical day for the Senate. […]
So, do you think that your colleagues on the left do not understand the threat of China? Do not understand the threat of Iran?”
TUBERVILLE: “Oh, sure. They understand it. They just don’t wanna believe it. And that they understand at the end of the day that their base is people that really like foreign nationals, that like them to come here because at the end of the day, they feel sorry for everybody. They couldn’t care less about American students, American people, American citizens, taxpayers, their base is on the far, far left that are socialist and communists. You’re seeing that what’s happening in these big cities right now, the blue cities, and the mayor that you’re getting ready to elect in New York.” […]
ON FIRING JEROME POWELL
BARTIROMO: “Well, we’re waiting on some economic data right now. Senator, the Federal Reserve, of course, held rates steady yesterday at the fifth straight meeting without cutting interest rates. It wasn’t unanimous. For the first time since 1993, you had two governors dissenting on that: [Micky] Bowman and Christopher Waller both wanted a cut of a quarter point in interest rates. I know you’ve called for the Fed’s removal every day since June 19th. […]
Markets are off their high, Senator. […] Although we’re still looking at a rally, but look, inflation is at a four-year low. And yet, Powell keeps talking about needing to watch tariffs and the impact of tariffs on inflation. Senator, your thoughts.”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, Jerome Powell’s playing ‘god’ is what he’s doing. He’s trying to predict the future. You can’t do that. All we ask of him in Congress is ‘Be consistent,’ but he’s not been consistent since he’s been there. He should have raised rates back in 2020, 2021.He was late to the dance on that. Then he turned around and dropped rates right before the election last year, and it showed that he was a political hack. He is not consistent. All we want is consistency, but he’s hurting our economy. He’s hurting our country and hope soon that he’s gone.”
BARTIROMO: “Who do you want in there if not Jay Powell?”
TUBERVILE: “Well, there’s some good people working for President Trump right now. I know all of them. They’re very smart. They’re very into it. They do a great job. Again, just an American economist that understands what’s going on. Get away from this nonsensical political strategy and do what’s right for the American people.”
BARTIROMO: “Alright, we’ll leave it there. Senator, we’ll be watching your work. We so appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, sir.”
TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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