Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chairs of President-elect Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, defend the tech industry's reliance on foreign-born engineers as the incoming Trump administration prepares to crack down on immigration. I am doing it.
Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy pointed to the shortage of engineers in the United States.
“There are far too few highly talented and highly motivated engineers in the United States,” Musk wrote in a Wednesday post on his social platform X.
When another user suggested that the CEOs of Tesla and SpaceX might be denying Americans an opportunity, Musk claimed that the poster's understanding of the situation was “upside down and backwards.” .
“Of course, my company and I both want to hire Americans, and we do because it's much easier than going through the incredibly painful and time-consuming work visa process,” says the tech world's CEO. the billionaire said. “But there is a serious shortage of highly talented and motivated engineers in America.”
Ramaswamy similarly argued Thursday that there are too few competitive U.S.-born engineering candidates, suggesting this is a cultural issue.
“The reason why top technology companies often hire foreign-born, first-generation engineers rather than 'native' Americans is not due to Americans' innate IQ deficiency (a lazy and incorrect explanation),” he says of X. I wrote it. In the end, it comes down to the word “culture.” ”
“For too long (at least since the '90s, and probably longer) our American culture has worshiped mediocrity over excellence,” Ramaswamy said, “and we've preferred prom queens over math Olympiad champions,” Ramaswamy said. “It's a culture that praises athletes more than the valedictorian.” That doesn't produce great engineers. ”
The debate appears to have stemmed from Sriram Krishnan's suggestion last month that Musk consider lifting the cap on green cards for skilled immigrants. Krishnan's comments resurfaced in recent days after Trump appointed him senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence (AI).
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and fervent supporter of President Trump, criticized Krishnan's appointment on Monday, saying that foreign students “don't have the ability to come to the United States and take jobs that should be available to American STEM students.” He suggested that he would like to remove green card restrictions so that he can do so.
“It is surprising that a career leftist who shares views that are directly opposed to President Trump’s America First policy has been appointed to the Trump administration,” she added.
Conservative technology industry leaders were quick to defend Mr. Krishnan. David Sachs, who was tapped by President Trump to be the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar, said his partner at Andreessen Horowitz is advocating for the removal of country caps on green cards.
“Sriram still supports skills-based criteria for receiving green cards, rather than making the program open-ended,” Sachs wrote to X. “In fact, he wants to make the program completely merit-based. Supporting a limited number of highly skilled immigrants remains a right-wing opinion. Sriram never said, Not a career leftist!”
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, also insisted that Krishnan is “America First.”
“For America to have the best standard of living, generous government services, and the strongest military, we need to hire the best people and build the best companies,” Lonsdale said. “I'm against increasing the number of lower-income H1B immigrants. But let's win the talent game.”
The debate over Silicon Valley's hiring practices comes as President Trump prepares to implement an ambitious and controversial immigration strategy that promises mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and citizens who may become naturalized. Both Musk and Ramaswamy have expressed support for President Trump's immigration plan.
