Ex-President Donald Trump promises Green Cards to foreign graduates from American colleges as road to US poll heats up

"What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma, a Green Card to be able to stay in this country," Trump was quoted as saying to a podcast, as reported by NBC News.

Trump had limited legal migration during his tenure despite making a similar promise in 2016.

Visa denials and extensions increased during Trump's tenure which made it difficult for some non-citizen workers to stay in the U.S.

He even prioritized a merit-based legal immigration system for highly skilled migrants in 2019.

However, he signed an executive order that froze new visas for foreign workers in 2020.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden recently took an executive action this month to protect undocumented spouses of American citizens.

The move would reportedly protect about 500,000 immigrants from deportation.

"This new process will help certain noncitizen spouses and children apply for lawful permanent residence – status that they are already eligible for – without leaving the country," read a White House statement.

Following the signing of the executive order, Biden posted on X: "Today, I signed an executive order with new actions to keep families together." "These new measures will clarify and speed up work visas to help people, including Dreamers, who have graduated from American colleges and universities land jobs in high-demand, high-skill professions and streamline the process for obtaining legal status for immigrants married to American citizens," he said.

"It’s the right thing to do," the President said.