Trump sides with Musk in H-1B visa debate, says he was always for the program

(Patria) - President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday sided with key supporter and billionaire Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of H-1B visas, saying he fully supports the program for foreign tech workers that some of his supporters oppose, Reuters reported.

Trump's remarks followed a series of social media posts by Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to "war" to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers.

Trump, who decided to limit the use of visas during his first presidency, said on Saturday to the New York Post that he is also for the visa program.

"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I believed in H-1B. I used it many times. It's a great program," he said.

Musk, a naturalized American citizen born in South Africa, has an H-1B visa, and his car company Tesla received 724 visas this year.

H-1B visas are typically issued for a period of three years, although holders can extend them or apply for green cards.

The dispute was sparked earlier this week by far-right activists who criticized Trump's choice of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist, as an advisor on artificial intelligence, saying he would influence the immigration policy of the Trump administration.

Musk's tweet was aimed at Trump supporters and immigration hardliners who are increasingly advocating for the abolition of the H-1B visa program amid a fierce debate about immigration and the place of skilled immigrants and foreign workers brought into the country on work visas.

On Friday, Steve Bannon, a long-time Trump ally, criticized "big tech oligarchs" for supporting the H-1B program and called immigration a threat to Western civilization.

In response, Musk and many other tech billionaires drew a line between what they consider legal immigration and illegal immigration.

Trump has promised to deport all immigrants who are illegally in the United States, impose tariffs to help create new jobs for American citizens, and severely limit immigration.

The visa issue highlights how tech leaders like Musk, who has taken an important role in the presidential transition and advising on key personnel and policy areas, are now attracting the attention of his base.

The American tech industry relies on the government's H-1B visa program to hire foreign skilled workers to help run their companies, a workforce that critics say undermines wages for American citizens.

Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars helping Trump get elected in November. He has been posting regularly this week about the lack of domestic talent to fill all the necessary positions in American tech companies.