Noting that U.S. current economy is based primarily on knowledge and ideas, rather than the natural resources, industrial machines and manual labour of years past, Zuckerberg said the U.S. needs to attract the most talented and hard working people. And many of them, he said, are foreign-born.

"Given all this, why do we kick out the more than 40 percent of math and science graduate students who are not U.S. citizens after educating them?" he asked adding "Why don't we let entrepreneurs move here when they have what it takes to start companies that will create even more jobs?"

The Facebook co-founder is one of a growing number of high-profile figures to join the immigration debate, which brought thousands of people to a rally at the U.S. capital and across the nation on Wednesday.

Senators working on a new reform bill are trying to strike a balance between competing interests, including business and labour unions, tech companies, religious groups and political constituents.

They are expected to introduce a draft bill next week that would update laws governing agricultural workers, low and high-skilled workers, border security and the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

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