US President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that he supports billionaire Elon Musk in a dispute over the use of the H-1B visa program, which allows companies to employ foreign workers in the field of technology, stressing his full support for the program, which some of his supporters oppose.
Trump’s statements came after Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, published posts on social media in which he vowed to wage a “war” in defense of the H-1B visa program.
Trump, who moved to limit the use of the visas during his first term, told the New York Post on Saturday that he “supports the program.” Trump told the newspaper: “I have a large number of H-1B visas on my property. I support H-1B visas, and have used them several times. “It’s a great program.”
Musk, an American citizen born in South Africa, received an H-1B visa, and his electric car company Tesla received 724 visas this year.
Musk said in a post on the X platform on Friday: “The reason I am in America with many important people who founded SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is the H-1B program.”
He added: “I will wage a war that no one can imagine in defense of this cause.” H-1B visas are valid for three years, but holders can extend them or apply for permanent residency, according to Reuters.
This conflict erupted last week after far-right activists criticized Trump’s choice of Sriram Krishnan, an American businessman of Indian origin, as an artificial intelligence advisor, saying that he would have an impact on immigration policies in the next US administration.
Musk’s post was directed at Trump supporters and those with hard-line stances on immigration issues, who are increasingly pushing for the cancellation of the H-1B visa program. Trump has pledged to deport all immigrants who are in the United States illegally, impose tariffs to help create more jobs for American citizens, and place strict restrictions on immigration.
The technology industry in the United States relies on the H-1B visa program to hire highly skilled foreign workers to help run companies, but critics say these workers negatively affect the wages of American citizens.
Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win the elections that took place last November.
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