‘Always been in favour’: Trump breaks silence on MAGA civil war over skilled immigration visas

Donald Trump has finally broken his silence after days of bitter infighting between Elon Musk and MAGA diehards over a hot-button issue.

Donald Trump has spoken up in favour of a controversial skilled worker visa program, appearing to side with Elon Musk.

It comes days of increasingly bitter infighting in the pro-Trump coalition between the President elect’s new-found tech industry backers and anti-immigration MAGA diehards.

“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas,” Mr Trump told the New York Post on Saturday, referring to the H-1B program.

“That’s why we have them. 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.”

Mr Trump had restricted access to foreign worker visas in his first administration and has been critical of the program in the past.

During the 2016 election campaign, Mr Trump insisted the H-1B program was “neither high-skilled nor immigration — these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay”.

“I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements,” he said at the time.

“I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labour program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions.”

During his first term, the soon-to-be 47th President signed an executive order mandating federal agencies favour higher-skilled, higher paid applicants to “end the theft of American prosperity”.

Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JD Vance. Picture: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP

But he also said in the lead-up to this year’s election that he wants workers to come into the US legally, especially those with needed skills, and that he wants to “recruit and keep” top graduates to keep them from going back to their countries and starting multimillion companies there.

“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, and that includes junior colleges too,” Mr Trump said on The All-In Podcast with Silicon Valley leaders in June.

Critics have long argued H-1B and other skilled migration programs are used by tech giants to replace native-born workers and drive down wages, while proponents including Mr Musk argue they are essential to fill local skills shortages in critical sectors like artificial intelligence.

Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have used H-1B to bring in hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in recent years, overwhelmingly from India.

A vicious war of words erupted over Christmas after Mr Musk made the case for greatly expanding skilled immigration, arguing “the number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low”.

“I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1 per cent of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning,” he added.

That sparked furious pushback from many pro-Trump influencers, who highlighted rampant abuses of the H-1B system and questioned why American workers could not be found for those roles, as others on the right lined up behind Mr Musk.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Mr Musk, suggested American culture that “venerated mediocrity” was the reason many companies hired foreign workers, further fuelling the flames.

Elon Musk vowed to ‘go to war’ over H-1B visas. Picture: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/AFP

Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor 2024 Republican presidential primary rival, blasted Mr Ramaswamy, writing, “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritising in Americans, not foreign workers.”

Mr Trump’s comments came after Mr Musk vowed to “go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend”, telling one critic to “take a big step back and F**K YOURSELF in the face”, a reference to a line from the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder.

“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 H-1B,” the billionaire wrote in response to X user Steven Mackey, who took aim at Mr Musk’s defence of the program by using his own words against him.

“Stop trying to optimise something that shouldn’t exist,” Mr Mackey wrote, quoting Mr Musk, before mockingly adding, “Let’s optimise H-1B.”

In another post, Mr Musk backed a proposal by CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings on how to resolve the issue.

“There’s always been a push and pull on this in the Republican Party, I think there’s a way to work this out,” Jennings told the CNN panel.

“You take the top 1 per cent, or the top 0.1 per cent of the most talented engineering people from other countries, that’s perfectly fine. If you’re using the H-1B program to abuse it, to recruit interns, accountants, other people that easily could be recruited from the US all because you want to do it cheaper, that’s not fine. What a lot of people in the party want to do is eliminate the fraud in this H-1B program, retain the top engineering talent, there’s a way to do this.”

Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s running mate during his independent 2024 presidential campaign, said the H-1B system was “essential” but needed and “overhaul”.

Vivek Ramaswamy said US culture was the reason companies hired foreign workers. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

“The system we’ve constructed with H-1B visas, whether we like it or not, incentivises people to come here and serve as essentially indentured servants for Big Tech, taking on the tough, gruelling jobs that few here in America are excited to perform at the current suppressed salaries,” she wrote in a thread on X.

“In return, if you’re good at your job, you’re then put on a fast track to get a Green Card, which means legal status and the chance to bring your family over through chain migration.”

Prominent MAGA figures including Laura Loomer, Ann Coulter and Mike Cernovich have been among the most vocally opposed to H-1B visas.

“Elon is right that there’s an engineering shortage,” Cernovich wrote.

“Others are right that this problem is self-inflicted and can be traced back to Big Tech unlawfully colluding to suppress salaries, offshoring jobs (people change majors and we lose the bench), and wanting to lower wages. This is why some find this discussion frustrating. Elon is right about the problem. Others are right that the solution is flawed. We ended our farm system, we lost our bench. BIG TECH did this. Now they want more H-1B’s for their self-inflicted wound.”

But many right-wing online influencers spoke up to defend Mr Musk.

“Some of the same people who said ‘we support legal immigration just not illegal immigration’ are suddenly anti-legal immigration for the top 0.1 per cent of foreign talent. Makes no sense and is a losing position,” wrote Collin Rugg from Trending Politics.

Utsav Sanduja, founder of the pro-Trump group Hindus for America First, said 400,000 H1B visa holders “aren’t your enemy”.

“They’re vetted, regulated, and accounted for — a reminder of what lawful immigration should look like,” he wrote.

“Meanwhile, 15-30 million illegal aliens live in America, unvetted and unchecked. That’s where our focus must be if we want to protect our sovereignty and our future. The hatred I’ve seen on this platform today is disheartening — especially on Christmas Eve and Day, a time for reflection and unity. Let’s rise above the division, refocus our energy, and fight for the values that truly make America great.”

Sources close to Mr Trump earlier this week expressed frustration to the NY Post about the public war of words sparked by Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy’s comments.

“It’s not helpful to President Trump for anyone in his administration to be pouring gasoline on hot-button issues that divide his coalition,” one said.

“Smart politics is focusing on issues that unite your supporters and divide your opponents.”

— with the New York Post

Originally published as ‘Always been in favour’: Trump breaks silence on MAGA civil war over skilled immigration visas