New Delhi, May 23 -- From AI researchers to startup founders, prominent voices across American industry are raising alarm after the Trump administration ordered most foreigners seeking permanent residency to leave the country and apply from abroad, in a move critics are calling legally questionable and economically damaging.

A sweeping change to the American green card system announced on Friday has drawn swift and pointed criticism from technology executives, immigration lawyers, lawmakers and policy experts, who warn the new rule could separate families, hollow out the country's scientific and academic workforce, and expose hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants to years trapped in backlogged overseas appointment systems.

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