Trump sides with Musk in right-wing row over worker visas
The Peninsula
Washington: Donald Trump weighed in Saturday in a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barons like Elon Musk, saying that he bac...
Washington: Donald Trump weighed in Saturday in a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barons like Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country.
"I've always liked the (H1-B) visas, I have always been in favor of the visas, that's why we have them" at Trump-owned facilities, the president-elect told the New York Post in his first public comments on the matter since it flared up this week.
An angry back-and-forth, largely between Silicon Valley's Musk and traditional anti-immigration Trump backers, has erupted in fiery fashion, with Musk even vowing to "go to war" over the issue.
Trump's insistent calls for sharp curbs on immigration were central to his election victory in November over President Joe Biden. Trump has vowed to deport all undocumented immigrants and limit legal immigration.
But tech entrepreneurs like Tesla's Musk -- as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, who is set to join Musk in co-chairing a government cost-cutting panel -- say the United States produces too few highly skilled graduates, and they fervently champion the H1-B program.
