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A battle between Elon Musk and Maga supporters over immigration has highlighted a rift between Donald Trump’s new supporters and his more radical base in Silicon Valley.
The rift over immigration policy and visa schemes for foreign workers stems from Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, as a senior White House policy adviser on artificial intelligence.
The move sparked backlash from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base in X, which quickly turned into a debate over H-1B visas – a program aimed at highly skilled foreign labor for US technology groups.
Citing a post in which Krishnan “advocated removing the country’s cap on green cards to unlock skilled immigration,” right-wing activist Laura Loomer said. In a post on Monday X That “it’s alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to the Trump administration when they share views that directly oppose Trump’s America First agenda”.
Representatives of Trump World jumped into the controversy. Far-right activists backed Loomer, who in turn attacked tech executives in the president-elect’s orbit, including Musk and David Sachs, whom Trump has Appointed as White House AI and Crypto Czar And ready to work closely with Krishnan.
Musk, himself an immigrant to the United States, advocated hiring highly skilled foreign workers. “A critical shortage of highly talented and motivated engineers in America”, He said at X on Wednesday. “It comes down to this: Do you want America to win or do you want America to lose. If you force the best talent in the world to play for another team, America loses.”
The split raises questions about whether two vastly different wings of Trump’s constituency — some of America’s most powerful tech executives and far-right activists — will be able to coexist.
Tech bosses have historically been the target of Trump’s ire ramped up An interesting attack on the president-elect in recent weeks, donating to his inauguration fund and dining with him at Mar-a-Lago.
“Big tech execs think they run things now,” Loomer said Wrote in X Thursday “One day they will [rub] It will only increase if Trump goes the wrong way. The blow-up between Maga and Tech Bros is going to be glorious”.
Online sparring has focused on Musk, who has taken on the role of Trump confidant after becoming one of his most vocal cheerleaders and Bankroller During his presidential campaign. President-elect Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have been blamed for cutting government spending and federal regulations.
in A long post on X On Thursday, Ramaswamy said the American culture of “mediocrity over excellence” required skilled immigration, prompting further backlash from Maga supporters.
On Thursday, Kasturi became a sports icon in an attempt to quell online blowback. “Maybe this is a helpful clarification: I’m referring to bringing in the top ~0.1% of engineering talent via legal immigration as essential to continuing America’s victory,” He wrote in X.
“It’s like bringing in the Jokics or Wembies of the world to help your entire team (which is mostly American!) win the NBA,” Musk added, referring to foreign-born players in the US basketball league.
Krishnan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Visas, including the H-1B program, remain key to Silicon Valley’s growth and sustaining America’s premier tech sector.
“H-1B is critical to Silicon Valley,” said Hiba Anwar, partner at Erickson Immigration Group. “There are several types of company-sponsored visas, but the H1-B is the visa for which the largest number of people can potentially qualify.”
The US government allows 85,000 new beneficiaries each fiscal year. Denial rates increased under Trump’s first presidency, a policy that courts later ruled illegal.
Unlike other visa categories, “you don’t have to be born in a specific country, you don’t have to work in a foreign office for the same company, and the bar of proof isn’t as high”, says Anwar.
In the race to stay ahead of China in technological developments, from semiconductors to AI, attracting talent is critical for the US tech sector.
“The overwhelming comments from the executives I’ve spoken to are about the complexity of getting people here and how it’s hurting their ability to innovate,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group.
“If you look at the biggest breakthroughs in innovation, skills, engineering and technology are often started by people who come here on Visa,” he added.
