The Wall Street Journal has endorsed President-elect Trump's stance on visas for high-skilled workers amid a controversy between his Silicon Valley supporters and anti-immigrant factions in his MAGA base.
President Trump on Saturday joined Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in expressing support for the H-1B visa program.
“Donald Trump may be wrong to try to save TikTok, but Elon Musk and Steve Bannon's debate supports the value of H-1B visas,” the Journal's editorial board said Sunday. It was the right thing to do,” he wrote. “Mr. Trump is choosing the side of enlightened nationalism as opposed to blindfolded negative nationalism.”
The president-elect said in an interview with the New York Post published Saturday that he has “always been supportive” of the program.
“I have a lot of H-1B visas on my property,” he said, according to the newspaper. “I've always believed in H-1B. I've used it many times. It's a great program.”
The paper suggested that President Trump may be confusing the H-1B program with the H-2B program that he has used for his hotel workers, while saying, “Both are designed to reduce labor demand in the U.S. economy. It is a legitimate program that helps meet the requirements.”
The paper added: “Some conservatives want to define nationalism solely in terms of geography and ethnicity.” “But the United States has prospered because we have brought in talented newcomers from many countries, increasing our strength and vitality. This is the kind of intellectual nationalism that Mr. Trump seems to want.” .”
Last week, President Trump's appointment of venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor on artificial intelligence sparked a debate online.
After taking office, far-right activist Laura Loomer resurfaced Krishnan's post in November, in which she called on Musk and DOGE to “remove country caps on green cards/unlock skilled immigrants.” I urged them to consider it.
Loomer called Krishnan's appointment “very disturbing” and called for removing green card caps so international students “can come to the United States and take the jobs that should be available to American STEM students.” He suggested that he was trying.
Several conservative technology leaders have come to Mr. Krishnan's defense, arguing that he supports increasing the number of highly skilled immigrants, including the H-1B visa program. Musk argued that Silicon Valley needs foreign-born workers because “there is a severe shortage of highly talented and motivated engineers in the United States.”
Ramaswamy also weighed in on the debate, arguing that there are too few American-born engineers because American culture has “for far too long worshiped mediocrity over excellence,” a comment that sparked an online uproar. Ta.
Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and former Republican presidential candidate, slammed Ramaswamy, saying there was “nothing wrong with American workers or American culture.”
The debate became increasingly contentious, with Musk calling Trump supporters “sneaky idiots” and suggesting they be “rooted out of the Republican Party.”
Loomer also accused Musk of censoring her posts on his social platform .
