During a town hall on CNN on Wednesday, 2020, Democratic presidential candidate former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said America needed “more immigrants.”

If elected president Bloomberg said, his administration would give the estimated 111 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. a path to citizenship.

He also proposed giving permanent residence green cards to foreign students who get degrees from colleges and universities in the United States.

When asked about China’s record on human rights, Bloomberg pivoted to immigration.

Bloomberg said, “It’s just unrealistic to think that we’re going to stop doing business with China, but it is not unrealistic to try to pressure them into doing things on human rights. But it’s not just human rights. They steal intellectual property. I don’t think there’s any question about that. They are very unfair in treaties and the way we do business. We can’t own something there. They can own it in our country. A lot of the students who come here to study and get degrees, we are letting them go back to China. We should try to keep them here.”

He continued, “One of the things in immigration is you’ve got to do some things quickly in immigration. Stop this craziness with 11 million people living in a shadow. You’ve got to give them a clear path to citizenship. You’ve got to staple a green card on every degree when they get out of college, particularly if they’re studying STEM.”

He added, “We need more immigrants, not less immigrants. And a lot of them come from China.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN