WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Online disputes among Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry have laid bare the internal divisions of his political movement, rifts and contradictory views his coalition could bring to white people. I was able to get a sneak peek. house.
The rift is between wealthy members of the tech world, including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and a new wing of Trump’s movement calling for more highly skilled workers in the industry and those in Trump’s Make America Great Again base. revealed the tension. He advocated for hard-line immigration policies.
The debate erupted this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing firebrand with a history of racist and conspiratorial remarks, criticized President Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as the incoming administration’s artificial intelligence policy adviser. It has begun. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants to the United States.
Loomer declared that this position is “not an America First policy” and said tech executives who align themselves with Trump are doing so to enrich themselves.
Most of the debate took place on the social media network X, which is owned by Musk.
Loomer’s comments sparked a debate with David Sacks, a venture capitalist and former PayPal executive whom Trump appointed as “White House AI and cryptocurrency czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, tasked by Trump with finding ways to shrink the federal government, have weighed in, advocating for the need for the tech industry to bring in foreign workers.
It’s a bigger debate as more far-right figures join in on whether we should hire American workers, whether American cultural values produce the best engineers, free speech on the Internet, and the new influence tech figures have on Trump’s world. It has spread. And what his political moves mean.
Trump has yet to weigh in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about visa status for highly skilled workers or to online discussions among his supporters. Instead, his team sent a link to an
Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown noticeably closer to the president-elect, has been a central figure in the controversy not only because of his stature in the Trump movement but also because of his stance on hiring foreign workers in the tech industry.
Tech companies say the H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics say it has reduced the number of U.S. citizens available for those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated rather than expanded.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, once held an H-1B visa and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers.
“There is a permanent shortage of great engineering talent,” he said in the post. “This is a fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.”
For years, Trump’s own positions have reflected divisions in his movement.
His strict immigration policies, including a promise of mass deportations, were key to his presidential campaign victory. He focused on immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, but also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas.
Trump, then a presidential candidate in 2016, called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for American workers. After becoming president, Trump issued the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order in 2017, which instructed Cabinet members to protect American workers by restricting H-1B visas to the highest paid or most skilled applicants. Directed to suggest changes to be granted.
But Trump’s businesses have hired foreign workers, including waiters and chefs at his Mar-a-Lago club, and the social media company that runs the app Truth Social has used the H-1B program for highly skilled workers.
President Trump has made immigration a key issue in his 2024 presidential campaign, saying illegal immigrants in the U.S. are “polluting the blood of our country” and promising to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
However, contrary to his usual alarmist messages about immigration in general, Trump appeared on a podcast this year and said that he would like to automatically grant permanent residency to foreign students who graduate from American universities.
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“I think you should automatically get a green card as part of your diploma to be able to stay in this country,” he said on the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology industries.
The comments come at the start of a new alliance between President Trump and technology industry figures, but he has not made the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detailed plans to pursue such changes.
