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| Mask and Trump |
Musk Calls for Hiring More Immigrant Workers
Online Debate Over Foreign Tech Workers Exposes Tensions in Trump’s Political Coalition
An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has exposed the internal divisions in his political movement to the public, offering a glimpse into the cracks and conflicting views his coalition could bring to the White House.
The spat has exposed tensions between the newer wing of Trump’s movement — wealthy tech insiders including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call to hire more high-skilled workers in their industries — and those in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base who have championed his hardline immigration policies.
The debate was sparked this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing agitator with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s choice of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his incoming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants to the United States.
Loomer declared that this position was “not an America First policy” and said that tech executives who aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.
Much of the discussion took place on the social network X, which Musk owns.
Loomer’s comments sparked a row with venture capitalist and former PayPal CEO David Sachs, whom Trump has chosen to be the White House’s “director of artificial intelligence.” “Musk and Ramswami, who Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, have weighed in, arguing that the tech industry needs to bring in foreign workers.
The debate has blossomed into a broader one, with more far-right figures discussing the need to hire American workers, whether American values can produce the best engineers, free speech online, the new influence of tech figures in Trump’s world, and what his political movement represents.
Trump has yet to comment on the controversy. His presidential transition team did not answer questions about his positions on visas for high-skilled workers or the online debate among his supporters. Instead, his team sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hawk Stephen Miller, a transcript of a 2020 Trump speech at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history.
Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, has been a central figure in the debate, but not because of his standing in the White House. This is not just Trump’s move but also his stance on the tech industry’s hiring foreign workers.
Tech companies say the H-1B skilled worker visas, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are necessary for hard-to-fill positions. However, critics say they undercut the American citizens who could take on those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be scrapped, not expanded.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, was once an H-1B visa holder and has championed the industry’s need for foreign workers.
“There is a perennial shortage of top engineering talent. It’s the primary limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” he said in a post.
Trump’s position over the years has reflected the divisions in his movement.
His tough immigration policies, including his pledge of mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He focused on immigrants who come to the United States illegally but also sought to restrict legal immigration, including family-based visas.
As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” to American workers. After becoming president, Trump issued an executive order, “Buy American, Hire American,” in 2017, which directed Cabinet members to propose changes to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the highest-paid or most skilled applicants to protect American workers.
However, Trump’s companies have hired foreign workers, including servers and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club and the social media company behind his Truth Social app, who have used the H-1B program for highly skilled workers.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, when he made immigration his main issue, Trump said that immigrants in the country illegally were “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
However, in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message about immigration in general, Trump said in a podcast this year that he wants to grant automatic green cards to international students who graduate from U.S. colleges.
“I think you should automatically get, as part of your degree, a green card to stay in this country,” he said on the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and tech world.
The comments came on the cusp of Trump’s emerging alliance with tech industry figures, but he has not made the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detailed any plans to pursue such changes.
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