Keystone-SDA
Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was in favor, like Elon Musk, of a category of American visas intended for qualified foreign workers. This at a time when dissensions on the subject are agitating his own camp.
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December 28, 2024 – 10:37 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) “I have always believed in the H1-B program. I have used it many times,” the president-elect told the conservative tabloid New York Post, referring to employees of his own companies.
For several days, some of his supporters from tech, including Elon Musk, have been arguing over the issue with other conservative figures from his clan, with ardently anti-immigration positions.
Widely used by Silicon Valley
H1-B visas allow companies to bring foreign workers with specific qualifications to the United States and are widely used by Silicon Valley.
The multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who became close to Donald Trump and a native of South Africa, himself benefited in the past from this type of visa.
“The reason why I am in America as the essential people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies (…) is because of H1B,” thundered Elon Musk on his X network on Friday, promising to “go to war on this issue.”
“Taking jobs from US citizens”
A speech that disturbs certain conservative figures, while Donald Trump was elected with a primarily anti-immigration program.
Donald Trump’s former advisor at the White House, the very right-wing Steve Bannon, criticized in a broadcast on Friday a “scam by Silicon Valley oligarchs to take the jobs of American citizens.”
In the past, Donald Trump had expressed his opposition to H1-B visas, which he described as “very unfair to our American workers”. And during his first term, he put in place certain restrictions on these visas, before they were lifted by the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden.
