US President-elect Donald Trump expressed his support for the H-1B special visa program in comments made on Saturday.
Trump broached the subject after billionaire CEO Elon Musk vowed to go to “war” to protect the skilled foreign workers program, which some supporters of the incoming president objected to.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to crack down on illegal immigration and increase deportations.
What did Trump and Musk say about the H-1B program?
Trump said this New York Post That he was “always” in favor of the program.
“I’ve always liked the (H1-B) visa, I’ve always been in favor of it,” Trump said, adding that he had used the program to hire workers at his companies.
He said visas are “essential to keeping America winning.”
In fact, Trump has already criticized the H-1B visa, calling it ‘very bad’ and ‘unfair’ for American workers.
In recent days, their coalition has been divided in a public debate largely taking place online about the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers.
Far-right members of Trump’s MAGA movement say Musk and other tech supporters are promoting ideas that go against Trump’s “America First” approach.
In a post on Platform
Musk is scheduled to co-chair a government cost-cutting panel under Trump with Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also a supporter of the H1-B program. The tech billionaire also contributed more than $250 million (€240 million) to Trump’s election campaign.
Musk is a South African-born naturalized US citizen who himself holds an H-1B visa. In 2024, his car company Tesla will receive 724 H-1Bs.
Far right criticizes ‘tech oligarchs’
The debate among Trump supporters began when far-right activists criticized Trump’s appointment of Indian-born US citizen Sriram Krishnan as an advisor on artificial intelligence.
On Friday, Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist and co-founder of the far-right Breitbart news outlet, criticized “big tech oligarchs” for supporting the H-1B program and called Musk a “child.” He argued that migrants in the program were essentially “indentured servants” whose wages were low.
Meanwhile, Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who flew on Trump’s plane, called on supporters to “protect” the president-elect and expressed hope he would step aside from the tech industry.
“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” she said.
“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats.”
sdi/lo (AP, AFP, Reuters)
