Oracle Co-CEO questions policies on student visas

By Salvador Rodriguez

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) Co-Chief Executive Mark Hurd on Monday said he does not understand Trump administration immigration policies that make it difficult for foreigners to work in the United States after earning an education here.

“I don’t understand how we let somebody into this country go to our schools, earn degrees and then not allow them to practice the trade that they trained and learned out here in this country and start companies here, pay taxes, have kids,” said Hurd, speaking with reporters at the Oracle Open World conference.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration made a number of changes to tighten up the H-1B program, widely used by tech companies, including the suspension of an expedited approval process for those visas.

Immigration “is an amazing opportunity for us to attract talent and grow our economy,” Hurd said, noting his company hires about 20,000 workers each year on average.

Hurd made his remarks came when asked by a Reuters reporter how the Trump Administration’s immigration policies have affected Oracle’s hiring practices.

“I usually defer these sort of questions, but I’m going to go with this one. I can’t help myself,” Hurd said. “I don’t like this at all, to be very frank with you.”

Hurd's co-CEO, Safra Catz, was part of President Trump's transition team.

(This version of the story , corrects to remove "denounces" in the headline and rephrases; in third paragraph, removes incorrect reference to Oracle role in H1-B visa program)

(Reporting by Salvador Rodriguez; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Dan Grebler)