Musk "Must Recruit Engineers Overseas"... US Immigration Hardliners 'Oppose'

DOGE Co-Leaders Musk and Vivek Defend Silicon Valley Overseas Engineer Hiring Practices on SNS

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and emerging as a key figure in the next U.S. administration, has argued for actively recruiting highly skilled immigrants, setting himself against immigration hardliners. With the Donald Trump administration, set to take office in January next year, signaling tough anti-immigration policies, Musk’s diagnosis is that the U.S. lacks engineers who possess both ability and passion.

On the 26th (local time), Musk responded on X (formerly Twitter) to a user’s claim that Tesla and SpaceX do not provide job opportunities to American engineers, saying, "(The understanding of the situation) is confused and detached," and countered, "There are too few talented and highly motivated engineers in the U.S."

Vivek Ramaswamy, appointed as the co-head of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) next year, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, visited the U.S. Congress on the 5th (local time). Photo by UPI Yonhap News

Musk stated, "Of course, my companies and I prefer to hire Americans and do so. It’s much easier than going through the extremely painful and slow work visa process," adding, "However, if the team called America wants to keep winning championships, it is essential to bring in the top 0.1% of engineering talent through legal immigration."

Vivek Ramaswamy, former Republican presidential primary candidate and who will co-lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the next administration alongside Musk, also came to support. He said, "The reason top tech companies often hire first-generation engineers born abroad rather than native-born Americans is not due to a lack of innate IQ among Americans but culture," pointing out, "Our American culture has long worshipped mediocrity over excellence. A culture that praises the prom queen over the math Olympiad champion, and the athlete over the class representative, will not produce the best engineers."

This debate arose as Trump, who has signaled anti-immigration policies, recently nominated Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as the next White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s chief AI policy advisor. When Krishnan, who had built a rapport with Musk on Twitter, urged Musk to persuade Trump to abolish the green card (permanent residency) cap for highly skilled foreign workers, immigration hardliners pushed back.

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist known to be favored by Trump, attacked, saying, "Krishnan wants to remove green card limits so that foreign students can snatch jobs that should go to American STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates," and added, "It’s surprising to see professional leftists with views directly opposing Trump’s America First agenda being appointed to the Trump administration."

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who competed against Ramaswamy in last year’s Republican primary, also chimed in, saying, "There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture," and "We should invest in and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers."

As the Trump administration signals a large-scale crackdown on illegal immigrants, the appointment of many IT industry figures who support securing highly skilled technical workers is expected to further intensify conflicts with immigration hardliners. David Sacks, former PayPal COO and named as the next White House AI and cryptocurrency czar, is a prominent advocate for abolishing the green card cap supported by Krishnan. Additionally, Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the House, recently expressed a positive stance on issuing work visas for highly skilled immigrants.