Top supporters of President-elect Donald Trump have clashed online over a visa program designed to bring skilled tech workers to the US – a preview of possible tensions in the incoming Trump White House.
In a post on X Thursday, Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped by Trump to cut government spending, defended the H-1B visa system and criticized American parenting practices.
“Our American culture has honored mediocrity over excellence,” Ramawami wrote in a lengthy post arguing that foreign workers improve the competitiveness of the American economy.
But the post quickly drew backlash from Trump supporters, who are staunchly opposed to immigration of any kind.
The row played out online over the holidays, as mainstream Republicans and far-right influencers joined the criticism.
Ramaswamy's view on skilled worker visas was supported by Elon Musk, the tech billionaire tapped to lead Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency.
Taking aim at American culture, Ramaswamy wrote, “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the Math Olympiad champion or the athlete over the valedictorian (top student in class) will not produce the best engineers.”
But Nikki Haley, Trump's former ambassador to the United Nations and a former Republican presidential candidate, pushed back against the tech bosses.
“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” she wrote in response to X. “All you have to do is look across the border and see how much they want what we have. We need to invest in and prioritize Americans, not foreign workers.”
Haley, who like Ramaswamy was born to Indian immigrants, has been joined in opposition to the visa program by far-right accounts online.
Laura Loomer, an anti-Islam activist who regularly spreads conspiracy theories but is also known for her staunch support for Trump, led the online charge with posts viewed millions of times.
Earlier in the week, Loomer criticized Trump's selection of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as the White House's senior adviser on artificial intelligence. Loomer wrote that Krishnan is a “career leftist” who is “in direct opposition to Trump's 'America First' agenda.”
Hailed by far-right X accounts, she also called Indian immigrants “invaders” and directed racist tropes at Krishnan.
Loomer then accused Musk, who owns X, of “censorship” for allegedly limiting replies to her posts on the web and removing her from a paid premium program.
Echoing Trump's criticism of the X boss's influence, she wrote: “'President Musk' is starting to look real… Free speech is an illusion.”
Meanwhile, Musk protect the H-1B visa program like attracting the 'top ~0.1%' engineering talent'.
“Thinking of America as a professional sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mindset,” he tweeted.
But critics online posted screenshots of job postings at his companies filled by people on H1-B visas, showing salaries of $200,000 and much less, and argued that these hires did not represent an elite talent pool, but rather soon a way to keep wages low in US-born workers.
The number of H-1B visas issued is limited to 65,000 per year, plus an additional 20,000 for people with master's degrees from US institutions.
Recent Boundless researchimmigration consulting firm, states that about 73% of H-1B visas are issued to Indian nationals, with 12% issued to Chinese nationals.
Trump has promised that mass deportations of undocumented immigrants will begin as soon as he takes office. He was a critic of the H-1B program and tightened the requirements for that visa during his first term.
His vice president, JD Vance, also campaigned against the program but has close ties to the tech world. In his previous career as a venture capitalist, Vance funded startups that hired H-1B visa workers.
In recent days, the president-elect has also denied being improperly influenced by Musk and the other billionaires who backed his campaign.
On Sunday, Trump told a conservative conference in Arizona that he was not under Musk's thumb.
“You know, they're in a new push,” he told the crowd at AmericaFest, organized by Turning Point USA. “All the different scams. The new one is that President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.”
“No, no, that's not happening,” he said. “He will not become president.”