Curious things are happening over on X and among Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
They’re urging President Donald Trump to expand H-1B visas.
But this reigniting a debate among his supporters.
Musk says top engineers are in short supply.
And Ramaswamy blames American culture for mediocrity.
But the people aren’t happy about this different version of DEI replacement.
Critics like Laura Loomer call it “not America First.”
Isn’t that supposed to be our goal? Isn’t that part of making America great again?
CBS News reports:
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be advising President-elect Donald Trump on cutting federal spending but they also have some advice for him about the U.S. workforce, urging his next administration to bring in more foreign tech workers.
Musk and Ramaswamy’s views have sparked an online spat between factions of Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry, whose businesses rely on the H-1B visa to bring in thousands of foreign engineers and other skilled workers each year from India, China and other nations.
The tech industry has long called for more H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the U.S., although Trump’s first administration restricted the program in 2020, arguing that it allows businesses to replace Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.
That debate has again erupted after Musk, himself once on an H-1B visa and whose electric vehicle company Tesla has hired workers using the program, defended the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. Ramaswamy, for his part, wrote in an X post that American culture “has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” leading to a nation that does “not produce the best engineers.”
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote on Dec. 25 on X, his social media app.
Here’s what to know about the debate and the H-1B visa.
How did the most recent H-1B debate begin?
The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S.
Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.
ADVERTISEMENTLoomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, defended the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers.
It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for.
Real world consequences of H-1B.
It’s sad to watch:
Watch this former Disney employee break down in tears as he describes a group of IT workers being told that they’re losing their jobs because their jobs were given to foreign workers through the H-1B Visa program pic.twitter.com/efhOHPjTTf
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 27, 2024
Remember when Disney FIRED their entire IT staff and not only replaced them with H1-B foreigners but made them train them first?
I thought H1-B's were doing jobs nobody else could?
I thought it wasn't about money? pic.twitter.com/VRdRmhBWpI— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) December 27, 2024
White Americans are very angry right now as they should be
Our globalist corporations & leaders are plundering our nations
Replacing us, stealing our birthrights
Trump calmed some of that
But the rhetoric from Vivek / Musk is pushing many over the edge
This will get ugly
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) December 27, 2024
People are tired of DEI and H1-B seems to be just a different version of it.
End H-1B and keep the O-1 visa.
We want Einstein and Von Neumann to come here, not armies of foreign “tech workers”
— Blake Masters (@bgmasters) December 24, 2024
Remember that H1B-visa workers wrote this memo AT FACEBOOK directing them to implement more DEI, be racists against whites, and open the floodgates of H1Bs to “China”.
Lets make this go viral, 🇺🇸
— Zach Vorhies / Google Whistleblower (@Perpetualmaniac) December 26, 2024
The pushback is real against the discriminatory H-1B system.
Elon was ratioed and rightfully so; he needs to stop with the lying. He knows damn well the H-1B system is corrupted and harming educated, qualified Americans, especially White Americans. pic.twitter.com/Ew1MfhHTHi
— Suhr Majesty™ (@ULTRA_MAJESTY) December 26, 2024
Meanwhile, many Whites with IQs have to work at bagel shops because industries are ignoring them.
These are the white Americans Elon claims are “lazy” “stupid” or “don’t exist” pic.twitter.com/9pgGUMcQHK
— Boccaccio ✺ (@Bocc_accio) December 26, 2024
Slave wages, anyone?
We keep getting told that H-1B is essential for .1% talent brainiac superstars that we absolutely can't live without.
The reality of how the program is abused is the exact opposite. Cooks, Dog Trainers, Massage Therapists, Laborers. Some making as low as $22,000 a year.… pic.twitter.com/dO5XvDXTnj
— Swig 🇺🇸 (@OldRowSwig) December 27, 2024
Define discrimination in one headline:
Refusing to hire White Americans makes this piece of shit laugh https://t.co/zFigR4GIVv pic.twitter.com/yFpoWjLkD9
— RedWingToo (@too_wing) December 26, 2024
Not sure what Elon is thinking these days.
Went from advocating for White South Africans to turning on White Americans in less than a year. Unsurprising. pic.twitter.com/Bot7T5gJZw
— NotOk (@NotOkN1) December 26, 2024
Elon Musk defends X engineer Kache after he went on a racist tirade against White Americans.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/TIWKPj9IrM
— AF Post (@AFpost) December 26, 2024
This is the post Elon Musk says "pretty much sums it up". According to him, the people who built the greatest nation on Earth — white people — are "retarded". So "retarded" even, that it's useless to train them. Better to replace them by Indians.
Vivek made the same point… https://t.co/w5LafaPhVd pic.twitter.com/8umHAbRCJK
— Dries Van Langenhove (@DVanLangenhove) December 27, 2024
Not sure how this is “America winning”.
Thank you for bringing to my attention of how corrupt the H1B system is. pic.twitter.com/tc6yWZ5j5p
— Battle Beagle (@HarmlessYardDog) December 27, 2024
Maybe Elon wants the job of untangling this mess of cords?
White Americans need as many highly skilled Indians as we can get so they can help us figure out how to run an efficient and safe electrical grid. pic.twitter.com/MGXSUZq6Ru
— Rob (@Robbopaloobop) December 26, 2024
Question for expecting mothers:
Do you want your baby born with or without a head?
"skilled immigrants" pic.twitter.com/lezrjVh6l5
— Into the Memory Hole (@frogNscorpion) December 27, 2024
And did you want some sexual assault on the side?
By the way, that’s not covered by HMO or PPO.
How about living? Did you want to keep living after seeing your doctor?
Both my grandparents died because of medical malpractice by a foreign schooled doctor from India.
One was overprescribed chemo medication, the other was prescribed conflicting medications.
— Trylovision 🤡🌎 (@TryloTheCreator) December 27, 2024
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!