Physicists make the case for immigration reform and research funding on Capitol Hill

For many international students, there’s no place like the United States to pursue science research.

“We study in America primarily for the opportunities to build our dreams,” says Alessandro Di Gregorio, a physics student from Italy who currently studies at Washburn University in Kansas. “We want to be helpful to science and the country [the U.S.].”

But while many foreign-born physicists study in the U.S., staying in the U.S. to work after graduation is made harder by a maze of immigration laws and regulations. Without a path to stay, these scientists are forced to take their skills to other countries.

“The issues surrounding the retention of foreign researchers who wish to naturalize are very important for the U.S. to retain a competitive workforce,” says Paul DeLong, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Kentucky.

In January, Di Gregorio, DeLong, and more than 100 other APS members took the issue to Washington, D.C., for APS’ Congressional Visits Day. In 121 meetings with lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill, attendees advocated for legislative provisions that would allow international students pursuing advanced STEM degrees in the U.S. to legally declare their plan to stay and pursue careers here.

Members also made the case for changes to green card processes that would make it easier for high-skilled STEM workers to build lives and careers in the U.S. — for example, by exempting international students, and their spouses and children, from green card caps when they earn advanced STEM degrees from accredited U.S. institutions and receive job offers from U.S. companies.

The members’ advocacy extended beyond immigration, to STEM workforce strategies and federal science funding. For example, members asked Congress to expand the National Science Foundation’s Noyce teacher scholarship program, and to fund 200,000 research opportunities annually for undergraduate STEM majors at their institutions. The advocates also urged lawmakers to prioritize funding for the agencies that support the physical sciences in both the FY2025 and FY2026 budgets.

“The topline National Science Foundation funding is crucial [for] its pervasive impact on basic research everywhere,” says Jaden Sicotte, an astrophysics major at George Washington University.

Science and research funding has long been backed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, which several advocates observed. For example, congressional offices were drawn to the “bipartisan support” of the National Quantum Initiative Act, Sicante says. The current act builds on 2018 legislation, expanding its scope to support more quantum technology, curriculum, and workforce development through new research centers. It would also strengthen the domestic quantum supply chain, establishing quantum foundries at the Department of Energy to meet the industry’s device and material needs.

But despite the bipartisan support that research funding has historically received, recent executive branch actions are hurting the scientific enterprise. Today, APS is collecting stories from scientists, students, and beyond about the positive impacts that research funding has on society — and how potential cuts could harm this work.

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