In an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, President-elect Donald J. Trump weighed in on the debate over the controversial H-1B visa worker program that has roiled his MAGA supporters this week after comments by Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in support of the foreign worker program.
President Trump thanks Elon Musk for his support at Trump’s return to Butler, PA, rally, October 5, 2024, photo by Kristinn Taylor.
The debate has caused a fracture in Trump’s 2024 election coalition, with avid Trump supporter Laura Loomer apparently being penalized on the Musk-owned X over her criticism of Musk and immigrant worker visas, and former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon speaking out against Musk and Ramaswamy.
Trump spoke to New York Post reporter Jon Levine by phone, telling him he supports H-1B (excerpt):
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said by phone, referring to the H-1B program, which permits companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump, who restricted access to foreign worker visas in his first administration and has been critical of the program in the past.
Those brief comments by Trump were all the Post reported.
Trump’s appointees to head DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency commission), Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, picked a fight with some of Trump’s hardest core America First supporters over work visas this week, using words like “subtards” and criticizing American culture in their arguments supporting importing foreign workers.
Musk exploded in rage Friday night in a post on X, threatening all-out war over the issue, “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and F*** YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B.
Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 28, 2024
Earlier, Musk had called some of his critics, “subtards”:
My tolerance for subtards is limited
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2024
For his part, Ramaswamy criticized American culture, saying in a lengthy post:
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:
Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.
A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.
A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers.
(Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).
More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”
Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.
Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.
“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.
This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness.
That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024
Former Trump White House official Theo Wold posted about a battle Trump waged and won to save the jobs of over 200 American workers in 2020 who were set to be fired and forced to train their H-1B replacements by the Tennessee Valley Authority:
In Trump ‘45, the President had a showdown with the Tennessee Valley Authority over 200 American jobs that TVA had switched to H1Bs.
In the run-up to Christmas, TVA fired these 200 Americans – and had them train their foreign replacements on the way out.
They did this despite the fact that TVA is (1) a government agency; (2) founded to improve the material station of poor Americans, and (3) manages critical energy infrastructure for a large swath of the country.
My team and I proposed a plan to President Trump to reinstate the terminated American workers. Because the President of TVA cannot be fired by the President of the United States we thought President Trump should hold the TVA board members responsible – the highly-compensated decision-makers who had orchestrated the H1B worker swap.
The President agreed. He started firing TVA board members one at a time, with a demand to reinstate the Americans to their jobs. It didn’t take long before the TVA president and the remaining Board members agreed to reinstate the American workers.
At the time, some skeptical commentators said it was meaningless because it was “only” 200 jobs. But it was an important moment for two reasons.
First, these 200 jobs mattered to 200 American families, especially with Christmas approaching.
Second, it set an outer boundary for what short-term labor visas (which is ultimately what the H1B visa is) should NOT be used for: to replace competent American workers in a critical industry with temporary foreign visa workers just to save a buck.
There is broad agreement on the right about what H1B visas – or any other visa – should NOT be used for. The TVA showdown is an example of that.
Agreeing on this common understanding is the right starting place for this incoming administration.
In Trump ‘45, the President had a showdown with the Tennessee Valley Authority over 200 American jobs that TVA had switched to H1Bs.
In the run-up to Christmas, TVA fired these 200 Americans – and had them train their foreign replacements on the way out.
They did this despite… pic.twitter.com/s7VXNHEG9p
— Theo Wold (@RealTheoWold) December 28, 2024
Before Trump spoke out on Saturday, supporters were pointing to remarks by Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last July, “We’re done importing foreign labor! We’re going to fight for American citizens and their good jobs and their good wages!”
Our Next Vice President @JDVance
“We’re done importing foreign labor! We’re going to fight for American citizens and their good jobs and their good wages!”pic.twitter.com/IZ7yJfz9zU
— The Columbia Bugle (@ColumbiaBugle) December 27, 2024
Excerpt from the U.S. Department of Labor on the H-1B visa program:
The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability. A specialty occupation is one that requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the United States.
The law establishes certain standards in order to protect similarly employed U.S. workers from being adversely affected by the employment of the nonimmigrant workers, as well as to protect the H-1B nonimmigrant workers. Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B nonimmigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question, or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment – whichever is greater.
Steve Bannon gives Musk his respect for his work supporting Trump in the 2024 election, but blasts the H-1B visa program: “Full respect to Elon Musk—he played a key role in mobilizing low-prop voters and funding GOTV efforts. That earns him a seat at the table. Let me just restate something: as a fact, the H1B visa program is a total and complete scam from its top to the bottom.”
Bannon: Full respect to Elon Musk—he played a key role in mobilizing low-prop voters and funding GOTV efforts. That earns him a seat at the table. Let me just restate something: as a fact, the H1B visa program is a total and complete scam from its top to the bottom. pic.twitter.com/d2MkvKqhoX
— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) December 28, 2024
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