Washington DC:
US President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with his ally and tech billionaire Elon Musk over the ongoing H-1B issue, saying the US has “smart people” in our country. He said he needed him to come. Musk recently caused political turmoil in the Republican camp after vowing to “go to war” to protect the H-1B visa program.
“I’ve always felt that we need the most talented people in this country. We need talented people. We need smart people to come to this country. We need a lot of people to come. We’re going to get jobs like we’ve never done before,” Trump told reporters at a New Year’s Eve party.
Breaking news: Donald Trump joins Elon Musk in supporting H1B visas.
“We need the most talented people in our country. We need smart people to come to our country, and we need a lot of people to come to our country.” pic.twitter.com/Cv3amxJjT0
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) January 1, 2025
President Donald Trump has nominated Elon Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with Indian-American technology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
About the H-1B visa program
The H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialized occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The industry relies on H- to attract highly skilled workers to the U.S., as tech companies rely on the visas to hire tens of thousands of workers each year from countries like India and China. I have been calling for the expansion of 1B visas for many years.
But President Donald Trump’s first administration restricted the program in 2020, arguing that it allows companies to replace Americans with lower-wage foreign workers. With Trump set for a second term in the White House, supporters of Republican leaders and some immigration hawks are increasingly calling for the program to be repealed.
But Musk himself once held an H-1B visa, electric car company Tesla has used the program to hire workers, and he defended the need for the tech industry to hire foreign workers. did. He consistently posted to X in support of the program.
“There is a permanent shortage of talented engineering talent, which is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote in X on December 25th.
Debate over H-1B visas
However, controversy erupted after right-wing influencer Laura Loomer criticized Trump’s appointment of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an advisor on the incoming administration’s artificial intelligence policy. . Mr. Krishnan supports being able to attract more skilled immigrants to the United States.
Mr. Loomer made clear that his stance was “not America First,” and said the tech executives who aligned themselves with Mr. Trump did so to enrich themselves.
The debate intensified when Ramaswamy criticized American culture for promoting mediocrity rather than focusing on academic excellence and merit-based success. “I hope Trump’s election marks the beginning of a new golden age for America, but only if our culture fully awakens, once again favoring achievement over normalcy and mediocrity over mediocrity,” Ramaswamy said. “It’s a culture that prioritizes excellence, nerdiness over conformity, and hard work over laziness.” he said Thursday.
He faced backlash for this comment. In response, Musk called for the Republican Party to rid itself of “sneaky idiots” who oppose his immigration policies.
“H-1B is why I’m in America, along with so many critical people who created SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong,” Musk wrote of X. .
