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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneurs who have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, have argued in recent days that Big Tech firms need to hire skilled workers from abroad because there are not enough "motivated" Americans to fill those jobs.
Those comments have sparked backlash from Trump's die-hard MAGA supporters who support his hardline immigration positions.
Discussions about reforms to the H-1B visa program, a class of visa for specialized workers, have intensified recently, with some advocating for the removal of country-specific caps on green cards to address backlogs faced by applicants from counties including India.
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Steve Bannon Warns Elon Musk’s ‘True Colors’ Showing Amid H-1B Visa War5 min read
Once Trump takes office, the rift could potentially demonstrate whether Trump's historic base or his new allies in the tech industry have more influence in his administration.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump transition for comment via email.
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The Timeline
Sunday
The debate started on Sunday after Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy.
Monday
Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist and far-right activist with a history of racist comments, criticized the appointment as "deeply disturbing."
She wrote on X: "It's alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump's admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump's America First agenda."
Tuesday
Loomer sparked a backlash over inflammatory comments made on X on Tuesday.
In response to a post that said the nation was built by "immigrants who drove innovation," she wrote that the U.S. "was built by white Europeans" and "not third-world invaders from India."
In another post, she wrote: "It's not racist against Indians to want the original MAGA policies I voted for. I voted for a reduction in H-1B visas. Not an extension."
Entrepreneur David Sacks noted in response that Krishnan advocates for removing country-specific caps on green cards, not lifting caps entirely.
Wednesday
Musk, the world's richest man who has benefited from the H-1B program himself, wrote in a response to a post on his social media platform X on Wednesday that there are not enough "super talented" and "super motivated" engineers in the U.S.
"The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low," he wrote. "Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win."
In another post, he wrote that a "shortage of excellent engineering talent" is a "fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley."
Loomer accused tech executives like Musk of "throwing around money at Mar a Lago trying to buy influence in the White House so they can determine tech policy, limit regulation on China, and control our immigration policy."
Thursday
Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate, waded into the debate on Thursday, arguing in a lengthy post on X that tech firms need foreign workers because Americans don't have a good enough work ethic and that American culture "venerated mediocrity over excellence."
"The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over 'native' Americans isn't because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture," Ramaswamy wrote.
He added that Trump's election "hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness."
Ramaswamy's post sparked backlash from Trump supporters as well as critics like Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and presidential hopeful.
"There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture," she wrote on X. "All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers."
Musk continued to defend his argument, saying it was a way to supplement not replace American workers.
"Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I am referring to bringing in via legal immigration the top ~0.1 percent of engineering talent as being essential for America to keep winning," he wrote.
He also said that Loomer was "trolling for attention."
She responded that Musk "bought [his] way into MAGA five minutes ago."
In another post, she wrote: "I got you and all of your Big Tech buddies who are trying to infiltrate the White House to respond and expose yourselves as being in opposition to MAGA immigration policy."
She added: "You're still not our President. The real President knows H1B visas are bad for America and the real President is from this country."
Friday
Loomer suggested that Musk had taken away her "verified" status on X as "retaliation."
"So much for free speech. Quite totalitarian if you ask me," she wrote in a post early Friday.
Her post included a screenshot of Musk's earlier post that said "any accounts found to be engaged in coordinated attacks to spam target accounts with mute/blocks will themselves be categorized—correctly—as spam."
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