Musk and Ramaswamy defend foreign work visas, sparking backlash from MAGA

CNN
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Social media posts from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy advocating for an expansion of the high-skilled visa program have sparked debate among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump about how the program fits into the new administration’s aggressive immigration agenda .

Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump appointed to head his Department of Government Efficiency, defended companies that employ workers on H-1B visas and argued that tech companies, including Musk’s, rely on foreign workers to do business. But her message angered some of Trump’s staunchest defenders, who expect his administration to crack down on immigration and promote American workers.

During his first term, Trump restricted access to foreign work visas and had targeted the H-1B program in previous statements. But during the 2024 campaign, Trump signaled his willingness to grant legal status to some foreign-born workers if they graduated from a U.S. university.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Musk said U.S. tech companies need “twice” as many engineers working in America today, comparing the program’s benefits to a professional sports team that recruits the best talent from around the world .

“If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they are. This allows the entire TEAM to win,” Musk wrote on X.

“My point is that bringing in the top ~0.1% of engineering talent through legal immigration is critical for America to continue to thrive,” Musk wrote in another post on Thursday. “Viewing America as a professional sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to continue to win is the correct mental construction.”

Ramaswamy, a first-generation U.S. citizen whose parents immigrated from India, agreed with Musk, defending companies that look for workers outside the U.S. and arguing that tech companies are hiring engineers born outside the U.S. or to American immigrants were born because “American culture is revered.” “Mediocrity trumps excellence” and cites portrayals of bright students in the TV sitcoms “Boy Meets World,” “Saved By The Bell” and “Family” as evidence Matters”.

“Our American culture has worshiped mediocrity over excellence for far too long (at least since the 1990s and probably longer). This doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG,” he wrote Thursday. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympian or the athlete over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers.”

The support for foreign workers sparked attacks from MAGA supporters who fear that expanding the H-1B program could undermine their desire to curb immigration under Trump’s administration. Loyal Trump supporters like far-right activist Laura Loomer, conservative pundit Ann Coulter and former Rep. Matt Gaetz have criticized the two tech entrepreneurs for their stance.

“We welcomed the tech bros as they came running toward us to avoid the third-grade teacher choosing their child’s gender — and the obvious Biden/Harris economic decline,” Gaetz wrote in one on Thursday Social media post. “We didn’t ask them to develop an immigration policy.”

Musk and Ramaswamy’s comments were also condemned by former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who responded to Ramaswamy’s post by calling on the new administration to prioritize American workers over foreign workers.

“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. You just have to look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should invest in and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers,” Haley wrote Thursday.

Musk and Ramaswamy’s position has also found support among some Democrats.

“They’re doing it partly right, absolutely,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” Thursday night. Skilled immigrants have worked in other sectors of the American economy, such as agriculture and construction.

“There are millions of Americans who work for companies founded by immigrants. These jobs wouldn’t exist today if we didn’t let these immigrants in,” Polis said.

The H-1B visa program allows 65,000 highly skilled workers to immigrate to the United States each year to fill a specific job and grants an additional 20,000 visas to those workers who have earned advanced degrees in the United States. Economists argue that the program allows U.S. companies to maintain competitiveness and expand their business, thereby creating more U.S. jobs. The program is often associated with the technology sector, where companies have a high demand for skilled workers. Musk came to the US as a foreign student and later worked on an H1-B visa.

Trump has previously spoken out against H-1B visas, sharply criticizing them as a vehicle for “abuse” during his first presidential campaign. In a 2016 statement, Trump attacked the H-1B program as a way for U.S. companies to bring foreign workers into the country “with the express goal of replacing American workers at lower wages.”

In 2020, Trump restricted access to H-1B visas several times. This was part of the government’s efforts to curb legal immigration while responding to changing economic conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But in his recent presidential campaign, Trump appeared more tolerant of highly skilled foreigners coming to work in the United States. In a podcast interview in June, Trump said he wanted to grant permanent residency to any foreign national who graduates from college in the United States.

“What I want to do and what I’m going to do is – if you have a college degree, I think you should automatically get a green card as part of your diploma to stay in this country,” Trump said on the All In” podcast.

Musk’s confrontation with members of Trump’s base over the visa issue marks another chapter in the tech billionaire’s growing influence in the president-elect’s circle. After Musk led the opposition to a bipartisan government funding bill that was ultimately scrapped when Trump opposed it, Democrats began derisively referring to the tech mogul as “President Musk” to suggest to Musk how he would dictate his policy goals to Trump. Trump fended off Democrats’ attacks during his speech at a gathering of conservative activists in Arizona on Sunday.

“No, he is not taking over the presidency. I like having smart people,” he said. “You have a new kick. “Russia, Russia, Russia,” “Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,” all the various hoaxes. The new one is: “President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.” No, no, that’s not happening.”