An advisory commission’s final report urges Congress to approve new immigration pathways for biotech researchers to help America compete with China. The commission recommends increased federal funding for an investment fund, less regulation to speed biotechnology products to market, cooperation between the private sector and the Department of Defense and greater expertise in science in the federal government. Analysts say the Trump administration’s policies on international students may undercut the commission’s immigration recommendations.
Immigration Recommendations Figure Prominently In Biotech Commission Report
A Congressional advisory commission has concluded that changing U.S. immigration laws would allow America to increase the number of biotechnology researchers. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) chaired the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. Other members of the commission included Dr. Michelle Rozo (vice chair), vice president of Technical Capabilities at In-Q-Tel, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), former government officials and individuals working on biotechnology.
“Congress should authorize new green cards for biotechnology talent, especially from allied and partner countries,” concludes the commission in its final report. “These new green cards would help the United States retain more of the thousands of foreign students who graduate with relevant degrees or equivalent professional qualifications in biotechnology and other related fields.”
The commission said, “The United States remains a top destination for the world’s leading STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] researchers and promising young scientists, thanks to its research universities, open research environment, free exchange of ideas and regional innovation clusters.” It noted the large number of international students who have pursued biological and biomedical sciences degrees, including more than 53,000 in 2024. “These students, along with budding biotechnology innovators from abroad, have been a boon to the United States. But the United States struggles to retain much of this talent.”
“Current policies make it difficult for foreign STEM students and professionals to stay permanently in America, start businesses and contribute to the U.S. economy and innovation base, particularly in the defense sector,” according to the report. “The Commission heard from experts in industry and academia that China is actively recruiting graduates from American universities as part of a long-term effort to surpass the United States.”
The report noted that a Canadian pilot program in 2023 recruited foreign nationals in H-1B status seeking better career or immigration opportunities. It cited other countries with public-private partnerships in biotechnology. The commission also concluded, “Congress should optimize the vetting process for foreign nationals to prevent illicit technology transfer.”
Foreign nationals represent a high percentage of postdoctoral researchers at U.S. science and engineering graduate departments, concluded a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. Temporary visa holders are 71.3% of the postdocs in biological and biosystems engineering, 70.1% in biotechnology, 68.3% in biophysics, 68.1% in biomedical sciences, 66.1% in oncology and cancer research and 60.9% in biochemistry.
In 2021, the bipartisan National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence released a final report to Congress that recommended changing U.S. immigration laws to permit the United States to attract and retain talent to compete in AI and other technologies: “Nations that can successfully attract and retain highly skilled individuals gain strategic and economic advantages over competitors. Human capital advantages are particularly significant in the field of AI, where demand for talent far exceeds supply. Highly skilled immigrants accelerate American innovation, improve entrepreneurship and create jobs.”
According to an NFAP study, “Immigrants have founded or cofounded nearly two-thirds (65% or 28 of 43) of the top AI companies in the United States, and 70% of full-time graduate students in fields related to artificial intelligence are international students.”
Trump’s Immigration Policies May Undermine Biotech Panel’s Goals
The Trump administration’s efforts to deport international students for minor infractions, protests, op-eds and other actions could undermine efforts to attract biotech and other talent to the United States. “As of April 10, there have been almost 1,000 reports of international students and scholars either having their visa revoked and/or their record in SEVIS terminated, thereby jeopardizing their legal status in the United States,” according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Some student cases, such as former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk, have gained significant attention. Others have escaped public focus.
“Talked to a lady who was arrested for simple assault. She broke the nose of a guy trying to force himself in her, cops arrested both to figure it out. Got a letter saying she was the victim. But SEVIS was terminated,” posted attorney Steven Brown of Reddy Neumann Brown on X.com. “Others had minor tickets. Kid arrested for reckless operation of vehicle. He bought a new car and celebrated that evening with a couple donuts in an empty parking lot. No damage no injuries. Arrested but DA didn’t charge. SEVIS terminated. There are way more MINOR issues than big.”
Customs and Border Protection agents detained Kseniia Petrova, a scientist at Harvard Medical School on a temporary visa, after she returned from a conference in Paris with “nonhazardous, noninfectious and nontoxic frog embryos,” reported WGBH. She brought them at the request of her boss and neglected to list them on a Customs form. Immigration authorities are holding her at a detention facility in Vermont and she fears returning to Russia after criticizing the invasion of Ukraine.
“The policy has created a climate of fear among non-citizens at American colleges and universities,” according to a brief of amicus curiae filed in a lawsuit on April 9, 2025, by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration on behalf of 86 institutions and organizations.
“The administration has made high-profile arrests of non-citizens based on their political views, revoked the visas of hundreds of international students, and terminated foreign students’ records in the Student Visitor and Exchange System,” the brief continued. “It is also threatening the ability of schools to enroll any foreign students at all through decertification under the Student Exchange and Visitor Program. Seeing these actions, non-citizen students and faculty report being scared that they, too, will be targeted by the administration.”
Funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health have harmed biotech startups, particularly at university labs, according to investors. “Startups spun out of university labs have furloughed employees or are scaling back key features of their work after not getting funds they had counted on,” reports the Washington Post. “Doctors and patients are agonizing over promising lab discoveries that might never make it to the market. Postdoctoral students, who are the workhorses of early research and who rely on grant funding, don’t know if they’ll be able to find a job.”
The biotech commission praised international students but warned about the shortcomings of America’s immigration policies. “These highly educated and credentialed biotechnologists have access to American research and intellectual property, they often generate pathbreaking inventions and they often go on to establish valuable startups,” according to the final report. “But many do so outside of the United States, largely because U.S. immigration policy forces them to leave. This failure puts the United States at a strategic disadvantage.”
