US President-elect expressed his support for the H-1B special visa program in comments made on Saturday.
Trump weighed in on the topic after billionaire CEO vowed to go to “war” to defend the program for skilled foreign workers, opposed by some of the incoming president’s supporters.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to .
What did Trump and Musk say about the H-1B program?
Trump told the New York Post that he had “always” been in favor of the program.
“I’ve always liked the (H1-B) visas, I have always been in favor of the visas,” Trump said, adding that he had used the program to hire workers at his own companies.
He said the visas were “essential for America to keep winning.”
In fact, Trump has in the past criticized the H-1B visas, calling them “very bad” and “unfair” for US workers.
In recent days, his coalition has split in a public debate largely taking place online about the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers.
Hard-right members of Trump’s MAGA movement say that Musk and other tech supporters are promoting ideas that go against Trump’s “America First” vision.
In a post on the platform X, Musk said, “I will go to war on this issue” and warned of a “MAGA civil war,” referring to the Trump campaign slogan Make America Great Again (MAGA).
Musk is et to co-chair a government cost-cutting panel under Trump alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also a supporter of the H1-B program. The tech billionaire also contributed over $250 million (€240 million) to Trump’s election campaign.
Musk is a South Africa-born naturalized US citizen who has himself held a H-1B visa. In 2024, his car company Tesla obtained 724 H-1Bs.
Far-right criticizes ‘tech oligarchs’
The debate among Trump supporters began after far-right activists criticized Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan, a US citizen who was born in India, as an advisor on artificial intelligence.
On Friday, and co-founder of the far-right Breitbart News outlet, criticized “big tech oligarchs” for supporting the H-1B program and called Musk a “toddler.” He argued that migrants on the program were essentially “indentured servants” who depressed wages.
Meanwhile, Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who had flown on Trump’s plane, called for supporters to “protect” the president-elect and expressed her hope he would split 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)
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