Lean – conscious
A violent conflict has erupted in US President-elect Donald Trump’s camp, between immigration hardliners and tech industry leaders, including Elon Musk, according to The New York Times.
Weeks before Trump took office, a major dispute emerged among his supporters over immigration and the place of foreign workers in the American labor market.
The American newspaper said that the discussion is about “the amount of concessions, if any, the next administration should have with regard to skilled immigrants brought to the country on work visas.”
The split pits immigration hardliners face-to-face against the president-elect’s most prominent supporters from the technology industry, including Elon Musk, who helped support Trump’s election efforts with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, and David Sachs, entrepreneurial entrepreneur. taped to be the policy czar of AI and cryptocurrency.
The technology industry has long relied on skilled foreign workers to help run its companies, a source of labor that critics say undercuts wages for American citizens.
Trump has signaled in the past that he is willing to provide more work visas for skilled workers, but he has also promised to close borders, deploy tariffs to create more jobs for American citizens, and severely restrict the immigration.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and ardent Trump loyalist, helped ignite the row earlier this week by criticizing Trump’s choice of Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan to be his AI policy adviser, in a post on her platform .XShe said she was “concerned that Krishnan, a naturalized US citizen born in India, could influence the Trump administration’s immigration policies,” and cited “Third World Invaders”.
She continued: “It is alarming to see the number of professional leftists now being appointed to serve in the Trump administration when they share views that directly oppose Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Loomer’s comments underscored the growing tension between Trump’s longtime supporters, who embrace his anti-immigration rhetoric, and his more recent supporters from the tech industry, many of whom have built companies or its funding which is dependent on the visa program.H-1BGovernment to hire skilled workers from abroad.
In response, David Sachs called Loomer’s criticism “raw,” although Musk has regularly posted this week because of the lack of native talent to fill all the necessary positions within US technology companies.
Last Thursday, Musk wrote on his “X” platform: “The expertise that American companies need does not exist enough in America,” drawing a line between what he considers “legal immigration and illegal immigration.”
During the election, Musk helped fuel the disenfranchisement theory that “the Democratic Party is encouraging undocumented immigrants to cross the border to vote,” displacing American voters.
As a naturalized citizen born in South Africa, Musk has often spoken out against immigration, saying it is a threat to national sovereignty and endorsing messages describing non-citizens as “invaders.”
But this week, he came out strongly in favor of visas.”H-1B“, a program that allows foreigners with technical skills to work in the United States.
Musk said he had a visa.H-1BBefore becoming a citizen, his electric car company, Tesla, received 724 visas this year.
and visas”H-1B“It is usually for a period of three years, although holders can extend it or apply for green cards.
Source: New York Times