A major fight over immigration policy has been roiling the MAGA base in the final days of 2024, demonstrating a likely preview of how the contradictions within the Trump coalition might come to the fore during Trump’s second presidency.
On one side is the Silicon Valley business elite, led by the likes of Elon Musk and David Sacks, who were major donors to Trump during the campaign and pushing to make hiring foreign-born talent easier, sometimes through H-1B visas. On the other side are the more nativist elements of the MAGA base, who consider it a core political belief that immigration should be restricted.
The latter side, in recent days on X, has leaned heavily into undisguised racism, especially against Indian people, leading some Indian-Americans who supported Trump to reassess their support. Meanwhile, the controversial Trump sometime Trump orbiter Laura Loomer has described H-1B workers as “third-world invaders from India.”
The fight has also led some MAGA supporters to turn sharply against Elon Musk, even doing so on the platform, X, that he owns.
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Now, at least on this point, Trump has revealed what side he’s on: He wants more H-1B workers.
NEW from me
President Trump tells me he supports H-1B visas calling it “a great program” and adds “I have many H-1B visas on my properties”https://t.co/tvzw6LyvnP
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) December 28, 2024
The New York Post asked Trump about the issue specifically, and he said that “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.”
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” Trump said, although the Post noted that he had restricted the program, to some degree, in his first term.
Some, including the veteran anti-immigration activist Mark Krikorian, have noted that it would be unlikely for Trump to have used the H-1B program — normally used for high-skilled workers — for temporary workers at hotels or golf resorts.
A reader reminds me that Trump has H-2Bs on his properties (“temporary” unskilled seasonal non-ag workers), not H-1Bs (“temporary” skilled workers). https://t.co/Mh59iZ5V9a
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) December 28, 2024
Of course, there’s also the possibility that Trump hasn’t been following this debate closely, or that he will change his mind once he hears from someone else with an opposing viewpoint, as he has been known to do.
republican infighting pic.twitter.com/fSqWAAw4nV
— jude (@OregonMapGuy) December 28, 2024
Musk, meanwhile, has maintained his belief in the necessity for such visas.
“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” the Tesla CEO and X owner stated on the platform. “Take a big step back and [expletive] YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
