Days after vowing to “go to war” to defend the H-1B visas, tech billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday said the system, which is used to bring skilled foreign workers to the US, is “broken” and needs a “major reform”.

Mr Musk and Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have recently clashed with supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump over the issue of immigration.

Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy, who are set to be part of the incoming Trump administration, have backed the H-1B visa program.

Posting on X, the social media site he owns, Mr Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H-1B, said he has “been very clear” that the program is “broken” and “needs major reform”.

He was responding to a user who said the US needs to be a destination for the “world’s most elite talent”, but the H-1B program “isn’t the way to do that”.

Mr Musk said it can be “easily fixed” by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it “materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically”.

Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.

I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024

Last week, Mr Musk said bringing elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning.”

Mr Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, also echoed Mr Musk’s sentiments. He argued that the US culture has long celebrated “mediocrity over excellence”.

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ… will not produce the best engineers,” he posted on X.

Debate Over H-1B Visas

The debate over H-1B visas began after Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer, criticised Donald Trump’s selection of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration.

Ms Loomer, along with far-right figures like Ann Coulter and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, accused Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy of undermining American workers.

One viral post on X accused Mr Krishnan as an “India First” operative whose goal was to “replace American workers.”

“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” Ms Loomer, a MAGA figure known for her conspiracy theories, said.

“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats,” she said.

Mr Musk fired back at his critics and warned of a “MAGA civil war.”

He also swore at one critic, saying, “I will go to war on this issue.”

Trump Backs Musk In H-1B Visa Debate

Donald Trump has sided with Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump, who moved to limit the visas’ use during his first presidency, told The New York Post on Saturday he was likewise in favour of the visa program.

“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,” he was quoted as saying.

Washington:

Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, has launched a scathing attack on Elon Musk. Her grievances seem to stem from Musk’s advocacy for increased immigration in the US tech sector.

Loomer took to X to denounce Musk’s influence on Trump and label his “Department of Government Efficiency” project with Vivek Ramaswamy as a “vanity project”.

Loomer’s tirade didn’t stop there. She predicted a falling out between Musk and Trump soon. Musk dismissed Loomer as a troll, but she continued her attacks, resorting to racist and homophobic slurs. She accused Musk of being a “pawn of China” and claimed he had “bought his way into MAGA”.

“Remember when you voted for Biden and propped up @GovRonDeSantis and you said Trump was too old? We all know you only donated your money so you could influence immigration policy and protect your buddy Xi JinPing,” she said in an X post, further adding, “He’s a stage 5 clinger who over stayed his welcome at Mar a Lago in an effort to become Trump’s side piece and be the point man for all of his accomplices in big Tech to slither into Mar a Lago.”

Loomer’s opposition to Musk appears to be driven by her anti-immigration views, which are rooted in her racist and Islamophobic beliefs. Her attacks on Musk also targeted his perceived ties to China and immigrants from India.

“The tech billionaires don’t get to just walk inside Mar a Lago and stroke their massive checkbooks and rewrite our immigration policy so they can have unlimited slave laborers from India and China who never assimilated,” she wrote on the platform. “I don’t care about being called “racist” by people who don’t have the best interest of the American worker in mind.”

Interestingly, Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk’s collaborator on the government efficiency project, also faced backlash from MAGA supporters for his comments criticising American culture. Ramaswamy’s remarks sparked racist attacks from the far right, further alienating him from Trump loyalists.

The feud between Loomer, Musk, and Ramaswamy highlights the growing tensions within the MAGA movement. As Musk and Ramaswamy navigate the complexities of Trumpworld, they may soon find themselves at odds with the former president himself.
 

Washington:

Donald Trump has defended his ties with Laura Loomer, who has drawn fire from some of his Republican allies for embracing conspiracy theories and making racist comments, including against Kamala Harris.

“Laura has been a supporter of mine. Just like a lot of people are supporters, and she’s been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign,” Trump, the former president, said on Friday at a news conference in Southern California.

He was responding to a question from a reporter about his allies expressing concern about his close relationship with Loomer in recent days.

“I don’t control Laura. Laura – she’s a free spirit. Well, I don’t know. I mean, look, I can’t tell Laura what to do,” Trump said.

 “She is a strong person, she’s got strong opinions, and I don’t know what she said, but that’s not up to me,” he added.

Several of Loomer’s posts on social media this week came under fire, including one where she nodded to a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 attacks.

“23 years later, and there’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” Loomer posted on Friday, alongside a video of Trump in 2001 questioning whether aeroplanes could cause explosions like the ones that happened at the Twin Towers on 9/11,” Loomer wrote.

Loomer, often seen as a right-wing conspiracy theorist, in another post on Sunday, said the “White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call centre” if Harris wins the November 5 presidential election.

Harris, a Democrat, will take on Trump in the November election.

NBC News asked Trump whether he’d been informed of Loomer’s conspiracy theories.

“I don’t know that much about it. No, I don’t,” he said, adding, “I know she’s a big fan of the campaign, but I really don’t know.” Trump later sought to distance himself from Loomer’s statements, though without specifying which ones.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said that Loomer “doesn’t work for the Campaign. She’s a private citizen and longtime supporter. ” Even in that post, Trump defended Loomer and said: “Like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me.” Several Republicans denounced Loomer for her remarks.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Loomer was a “crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans”.

“The history of statements by Ms. Loomer are beyond disturbing,” Senator Lindsey Graham, also a Republican told The Washington Post on Thursday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)