President-elect Trump told the Saturday Post that he supports immigrant visas for high-skilled workers, appearing to side with Elon Musk in the volatile MAGA debate on the issue.
“I’ve always loved visas, I’ve always been pro-visa, and that’s why we have foreign workers,” Trump said on the phone, saying that companies should hire foreign workers in specialized jobs. He said this, referring to the H-1B program that allows
“I have a lot of H-1B visas on my property. I’ve believed in H-1B. I’ve used it many times. It’s a great program,” Trump added. Trump restricted access to foreign worker visas during his first administration and has criticized the program in the past.
Musk and other tech moguls said this week that the H-1B visa program helps ensure that U.S. companies can find highly skilled workers that may not be readily available in the U.S. workforce. He argued that it was important to make the world a better place and needed to be expanded.
MAGA hardliners want President Trump to follow through on his promises to promote American workers and impose tougher immigration restrictions.
Trump’s comments Saturday came a day after Musk vowed to wage “war” on the issue and told his jeering opponents to “fuck you.”
The uproar came after X user Stephen Mackie attacked the billionaire for using his own words to defend the program.
“Stop trying to optimize something that shouldn’t exist,” Mackie wrote, a line often used by Musk. “Let’s optimize the H-1B,” he added sarcastically.
Mr. Musk retorted: “H1B is the reason I’m in America with so many important people who created SpaceX and Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong.”
“Take a big step back and attack yourself in the face. I will fight as hard as I can on this issue that you will never understand,” said the star of the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder. He added, quoting a memorable line.
The tech billionaire has been criticized by MAGA enthusiasts, including Laura Loomer and Ann Coulter, who say the H-1B visa program is being abused and needs to be drastically cut. claims.
And influential voices around President Trump have also begun to publicly criticize Musk.
“Someone please call Child Protective Services. They need to do a ‘wellness check’ on this toddler,” former White House Counsel Steve Bannon mocked X’s boss in a post on his Gettr account on Saturday. .
Musk said his passion for the issue stems from a desire to maintain America’s competitiveness by attracting “the top 0.1% of engineering talent” so that “America continues to win.” said it is essential.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-head the Department of Government Efficiency with Musk, supported Musk and criticized American society.
“American culture has worshiped mediocrity over excellence,” Ramaswamy wrote in X.
