President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t changed his mind about the controversial H-1B visa program this week amid heated debate within the Republican Party over the program, saying the U.S. needs “smart people” coming to the country. he claimed.
“My thoughts haven’t changed. I’ve always felt that we need the most talented people in this country, and we need the most talented people,” Trump said Tuesday evening at Mar-a-Lago. Ta. “We need smart people to come to this country. We need a lot of people to come to this country. There will be jobs like never before.”
The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for professional jobs and is overwhelmingly used in the technology industry. But the system has long been controversial among some conservatives and has been exploited by tech companies to replace American workers with cheaper labor, mostly Indians. It is claimed that
Eric Schmidt slams ‘abuse’ of H-1B visa program, says Americans ‘should not be training foreign replacements’
President-elect Donald Trump looks on at Turning Point USAs AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
The program made headlines last week when Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was selected by President Trump to lead the Office of Government Efficiency, emphasized the importance of foreign workers to tech companies.
“It’s because of H1B that I’m in America with so many critical people who created SpaceX and Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong,” Musk said on X.
This has led to debate on the right over whether the program is being used to attract top talent or to help companies bring in cheaper labor, tied to jobs by visas. The rift appeared again.
Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-Missouri) said on Fox News Sunday that H1-B visas are being “abused.”
“I think the abuse of the H-1B program is clear. People like the sons and daughters of factory workers who lost their jobs and took white-collar jobs as accountants are being trained to replace them. “We have foreign workers who are driving down wages,” he said.
President-elect Donald Trump (left) and Elon Musk pose for a photo during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 16, 2024. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Trump administration moves to change H-1B guest worker program to prioritize higher-wage applicants
President Trump has previously expressed skepticism about the H-1B visa program. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he pledged to tackle abuses of the program, citing allegations that companies were forcing Americans to train cheaper substitutes.
“The H-1B program is not highly skilled or immigrant. They are temporary foreign labor imported from abroad for the express purpose of replacing low-wage American workers. I remain committed to eliminating the rampant and widespread abuse of H-1Bs,” and what happened when Americans were forced to train foreign replacements at Disney in Florida. “We need to end such outrageous practices,” he said in 2016.
“I will permanently end the use of H-1B as a cheap labor program and make it an absolute requirement that all visa and immigration programs hire American workers first, with no exceptions,” he said. .
He also said that while his company uses the H-1B program, “I shouldn’t be allowed to use it.”
Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump speaks to the House Republican Conference at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The administration immediately began considering reforms to the H-1B visa program, proposing sweeping rules that would prioritize applicants with higher wages for about 85,000 visas a year in 2020. .
This rule required registrants at the highest of the four wage levels to apply for visa allocation first. Once the highest level applicant applies, the process moves to Level III and so on until the space is filled.
“Simply put, because the demand for H-1B visas has exceeded the annual supply for more than a decade, DHS has determined that H-1B visas subject to the cap earn the highest wages relative to their income. We are prioritizing what is given to the beneficiaries.” [Standard Occupational Classification] Code and employment area,” the regulations state.
President Trump says he believes in H-1B visas for skilled workers as an immigrant rights advocate: Report
That rule was not enforced because the Biden administration scrapped it and then proposed its own rules. But it was well received by immigration hawks. Other rules introduced during the Trump administration propose narrowing the definition of “professional” and changing the way “prevailing wages” are set to ensure that U.S. wages are not lowered.
The incoming Trump administration has not made clear what exactly it will do regarding H-1B or whether it will revive efforts from the first term. However, Musk proposed that “by significantly raising the minimum wage and adding the annual cost of maintaining an H1B, it would be substantially more expensive to hire from overseas than from home.”
“It was clear to me that this plan was broken and that major reform was needed,” he said on Saturday.
At the same time, President Trump told the New York Post that the program was “amazing.”
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“I’ve always loved visas, I’ve always supported visas, and that’s why we have visas,” Trump said.
“I have a lot of H-1B visas on my property. I believe in H-1B. I’ve used it many times. It’s a great program.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
Contact him at adam.shaw2@fox.com or at: Twitter.
