Infighting over H-1B visas recently came to the fore after President Trump selected Indian-born Sriram Krishnan as an advisor on AI.
While some see this controversy as a cynical attempt to divide the MAGA movement, the two main perspectives are simple. Populist and nationalist Bannon, who wants to reduce H-1B visas and increase domestic labor, and big tech companies. Vivek Ramaswamy's Elon Musk wants to make the most of skilled immigration and H-1B visas to “win.”
Often the motive is not the worker's extraordinary talent, but his desperation.
In a bizarre recent post, Ramaswamy argued that Americans are raised in pop culture without a good work ethic, so it's only natural that they will be replaced by harder-working foreigners.
“A complete scam”
Mr. Krishnan is seeking to eliminate country-of-origin caps on green cards to make it easier for H-1B recipients from countries such as India to become U.S. residents and citizens. He has also repeatedly spoken and focused on how difficult and Byzantine the US immigration system is for legal immigrants.
Musk has promised to “go to war on this issue” and credits the H-1B to his own immigration and America's success story.
Bannon said H-1B is a “total fraud,” and if Musk and his allies think they can get away with supporting immigrants who take American jobs, he and the base will “rip face.” “I will,” he promised.
The left is gloating over the conflict, with former CNN host Don Lemon calling Musk and Ramaswamy “stupid assholes” and tech tech watching the Trump campaign turn against them in a “MAGA civil war.” He's making fun of his friends. Insisting that this was simply a fight over a “white man's job,” Lemon admitted, “I just love this job.”
Trump's Temptation
President Trump has previously supported limiting or eliminating H-1Bs, saying they are authorized for the “express purpose of replacing American workers at lower wages.” . But Mr. Trump now says he agrees with Mr. Musk's belief that H-1B is a valuable tool for increasing the greatness of the U.S. economy, insisting that this has always been Mr. Musk's view.
President Trump's victory in 2024 was largely helped by the money and influence of Big Tech backers such as David Sachs, Musk and the Winklevoss twins. But his base of supporters remains deeply red-hot Americans, who wonder how foreigners getting jobs will help the abstract idea of America, and how hard-working foreigners who barely speak English are in Austin or San Francisco. They don't want to hear that you have a cushy technical job.
It's understandably ridiculous to hear that America only cares about GDP numbers and not about the generations who lived and died as patriotic Americans.
H-1B 101
A look at what the H-1B visa is and how it works will help dispel any preconceptions that America lacks a skilled, disciplined workforce.
Anyone with a bachelor's degree or higher and “advanced specialized knowledge” can apply for an H-1B. If approved, they will have the right to work in the United States for three years, and can apply for extensions for up to six years. Officially, the wages paid to H-1B workers must be equal to the wages paid to American workers.
The H-1B has been around since 1990 and is especially popular with international students in the United States who want to work for American companies and eventually obtain citizenship. These visas are a legislative liberalization of the 1952 H-1 visa, which excluded most applicants from Asia.
The H-1B has been widely used in Silicon Valley to recruit graduates from countries such as India and China, ostensibly to address a shortage of qualified native-born Americans. The government can issue 85,000 H-1Bs per year through a lottery system. Very rare visas like O-1 are not used very often.
Indentured labor?
But how exactly does the H-1B visa help companies?
Often the motive is not the worker's extraordinary talent, but his desperation. H-1B employees can theoretically change jobs, but the process is extremely difficult. The best way to stay in America is to satisfy your current boss. At the very least, this will make your employees more obedient. In some cases, it essentially amounts to indentured servitude.
Rather than offering a path to citizenship to more foreign workers, we should help those we already have to participate more fully in the American economy. The Trump administration must focus less on strengthening the pipeline of cheap labor and more on preparing Americans to fill and excel in the jobs of the future.
