WASHINGTON: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said that Indian students can stay in the United States as they are 'smart people' and the US needs them, reported Hindustan Times on Tuesday.

“We educate a lot of people, very smart people. We need those people in the country,” Trump told Fox News in an interview.

Also Read: New US visa rules for international students

Trump, who has openly called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration in US, was of the view that Indian students come and get themselves enrolled in institutions like Harvard, study and then go back to India where they set-up companies and 'employ lots of people'.

Regarding Indians who have US H1B visas, he said that many of them want to stay in US.

The US H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields such as architecture, engineering, mathematics, science, and medicine.

Trump, during his campaign for White House, has repeatedly criticised the H1-B visa program maintaining that it has taken away jobs from American workers.

Also Read: Scale of Donald Trump’s discrimination debases currency of democracy