Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s social media statements pushing for the expansion of the visa program for highly talented workers sparked a debate among Trump supporters over how the program should fit within the incoming administration’s aggressive immigration plan.
Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has appointed to oversee his Department of Government Efficiency, defended companies that employ H-1B visa holders, claiming that tech companies, including Musk’s, rely on foreign workers to operate. However, their message irritated some of Trump’s most ardent supporters, who expect his government to crack down on immigration and encourage American workers.
Trump restricted access to foreign worker permits during his first term and has previously targeted the H-1B program. However, during the 2024 campaign, Trump expressed willingness to grant some foreign-born workers legal status if they graduated from a US institution.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Musk stated that US tech businesses require “double” the number of engineers working in America today, and compared the program’s benefits to a professional sports team attracting the best talent from across the world.
“If you want your team to win the title, you must acquire outstanding talent wherever they may be. “That allows the entire TEAM to win,” Musk wrote on X.
Musk emphasized the importance of bringing in the top 0.1% of engineering talent through legal immigration to maintain America’s competitiveness in a recent essay. “Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct.”
Ramaswamy, a first-generation US citizen whose parents immigrated from India, agreed with Musk while defending companies that look outside the US for labor, claiming that tech companies hire engineers born outside the US or born to American immigrants because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” citing portrayals of smart students in TV sitcoms “Boy Meets World,” “Saved By The Bell,” and “Family Matters” as examples.
“For far too long, our American culture has valued mediocrity over quality (at least since the 1990s, if not longer). “That doesn’t start in college; it starts YOUNG,” he wrote on Thursday. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”
The backing for foreign workers provoked criticism from MAGA supporters, who are afraid that expanding the H-1B program will compromise their desire to see immigration reduced during Trump’s administration. Loyal Trump supporters, including far-right activist Laura Loomer, conservative pundit Ann Coulter, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, have lambasted the two software entrepreneurs for their views.
“We welcomed the tech bros when they came running our way to avoid the 3rd grade teacher picking their kid’s gender – and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline,” Gaetz wrote in a social media post on Thursday. “We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley condemned Musk and Ramaswamy’s views, and she urged the incoming administration to prioritize American workers before foreign labor.
“There is nothing wrong with American labor or their culture. All you have to do is glance over the border to see how many want what we have. “We should invest and prioritize Americans over foreign workers,” Haley wrote on Thursday.
The H-1B visa program allows 65,000 highly talented professionals to immigrate to the United States each year to fill certain jobs, with an additional 20,000 visas granted to such workers who have earned an advanced degree in the United States. Economists say that the program allows US companies to remain competitive and grow their businesses, hence producing more jobs in the United States. The program is frequently connected with the technology industry, where corporations have a significant demand for skilled people. Musk has previously stated that he first came to the United States on an H1-B visa.
During his first presidential campaign, Trump fiercely criticized H-1B visas as a tool for “abuse.” In a 2016 statement, Trump criticized the H-1B program as a way for US businesses to bring foreign workers into the US “for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay.”
In 2020, Trump curtailed access to H-1B visas on many occasions as part of the administration’s endeavor to reduce legal immigration while responding to the changing economic conditions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, throughout his most recent presidential campaign, Trump appeared to be more tolerant of highly talented foreign workers seeking employment in the United States. In a podcast interview in June, Trump stated that he wanted to provide permanent residency to any foreign person who graduates from college in the United States.
“What I want to do, and what I will do is – you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” stated Donald Trump on the “All In” audio show.
Musk’s spat with Trump supporters over the visa issue is the latest chapter in the tech billionaire’s expanding power in the president-elect’s orbit. After Musk led the opposition to a bipartisan government financing bill that was eventually canceled after Trump spoke out against it, Democrats began mocking the tech magnate as “President Musk” to imply Musk was dictating policy goals to Trump. During speeches at a conservative movement conference in Arizona on Sunday, Trump rebuffed Democratic attacks.
“No, he will not run for president. “I enjoy having smart people,” he stated. “They are on a fresh kick. “Russia, Russia, Russia.” ‘Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,’ the various falsehoods. ‘President Trump has handed the presidency to Elon Musk.’ No, that is not occurring.”
