Trump: "Professional Visas Are a Great Program" Musk Supports

Conflicts within the 'Trump camp' over immigration visa policies issued to foreign professionals in the United States are intensifying.

A heated debate is unfolding between tech industry figures, including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a newly prominent close aide to President-elect Donald Trump, and hardline immigration policy supporters, most of whom are long-time Trump loyalists. Musk declared a "war" on the opposition regarding this issue.

On the night of the 27th (local time), Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter), "The reason I am in the U.S. with many important people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of the H1B visa," adding, "I am going to go to war over this issue."

The controversy arose after Trump appointed Indian-American IT expert Sriram Krishnan, former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s chief AI policy advisor on the 22nd.

Hardline immigration supporters among Trump backers criticized Krishnan for a post he made last month on X, stating, "Removing the green card cap for tech workers would be a huge deal." Far-right activist Laura Loomer attacked Krishnan’s White House appointment, claiming, "He advocates removing green card limits to allow foreign students to come to the U.S. and take jobs that should go to American students."

In response, David Sacks, former PayPal COO and newly appointed 'AI and cryptocurrency czar' in Trump’s second-term White House, defended Krishnan. Musk also shared posts arguing that Silicon Valley lacks engineering talent, emphasizing, "There are too few highly talented and motivated engineers in the U.S."

The H-1B visa, applied to specialized professional jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the U.S., allows a basic three-year stay under employer sponsorship, with limited extensions and an annual quota. Holders of this visa can apply for U.S. permanent residency, but due to country-specific quotas for nations like India and China, they face multi-year waiting periods.

Silicon Valley tech industry figures, including Krishnan, argue for removing these restrictions for highly skilled professionals to open the doors wider for U.S. immigration.

Krishnan was born and educated in India before moving to the U.S., and Musk was born and raised in South Africa, then moved to Canada for university before coming to the U.S., obtaining citizenship in 2002. Both have experienced the status of 'foreign workers' in the past.

Steve Bannon, a longtime aide to Trump, criticized Silicon Valley figures supporting the H-1B visa on his podcast 'War Room,' calling them "oligarchs" and denouncing the H-1B visa as "a scam to take jobs from American citizens and give them to foreign contract workers while paying less."

Amid the escalating debate, Trump has sided with the 'rising power' Musk. In a phone interview with the New York Post on the 28th, Trump said, "I have always liked and supported that visa (H-1B visa)," adding, "Many of my assets also have a lot of H-1B visa holders."

Trump continued, "I am a believer in the H-1B visa and have used it multiple times (to hire foreign workers for business). It is a great program," he added.