President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, has come out this week as a vociferous proponent of the legal immigration policy known as the H-1B visa program.
However, Musk's outcry has drawn the ire of critics who say the policy undermines the logic of Trump's 2024 campaign agenda by exploiting cheaper foreign labor markets at the expense of American citizens.
On Friday night, Musk responded to a post of those criticizing the H-1B program, which offers visas to highly skilled labor immigrants upon whom the Big Tech industry is reliant.
"The reason I'm in America," Musk posted on X, "along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and F**K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend."
Right-leaning "Dilbert" cartoonist Scott Adams chimed in on the debate, arguing, "MAGA is taking a page from Democrats on how to lose elections while feeling good about themselves."
Musk agreed with Adams.
"[T]hose contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem," Musk wrote.
On the other side of the debate, critics of the program in the America First camp argued that the visa program undermines America's middle class. Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec posted on X Saturday a video of him describing the phenomenon.
Trump's pick for White House policy adviser on artificial intelligence, Sriram Krishnan, said that there should not "'be a cap on H-1B,'" Posobiec stated. "And that's what really pushed a lot of the MAGA base into high overdrive — to say, 'Wait a minute. President Trump campaigned in 2016 on ending the H-1B immigration system because number one, it's not high-skilled immigration. That's a lie. And number two, it's not immigration at all. It's this weird indentured servitude kind of system.'"
"And I think what got people really riled up is the fact that" Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, "and sort of the tech bros, if you want to put it that way, they were throwing down hard, saying, 'You don't know what we're talking about. You don't know what this is all about. This is about the best and the brightest.'"
Posobiec added that the reason H-1B has gotten so much attention as an immigration program is because the tech industry relies upon them "for cheap labor." Posobiec also made a note — to counter Musk's point — that there is already an immigration program known as an O-1 visa that prioritizes immigration for those who have demonstrated "extraordinary" accomplishment in their field.
Meanwhile, as the debate over H-1B began this week, murmurs on X began circulating that accounts criticizing Musk's position on the immigration issue may find themselves shadow banned.
Breitbart News reported Friday that the social media company formerly known as Twitter announced an algorithm change. Conservative users of the platform have voiced concern that they have lost their blue verification check marks and subscribers around the same time the algorithm change was rolled out and debate over H-1B began.
On Friday, conservative commentator Laura Loomer replied to one of Musk's posts, writing: "[Musk] has been a Republican for 5 minutes and now he wants to decide who gets to be a Republican. Elon, you said you were a free speech absolutist. If you are, let's please let all ideas flourish and we will let the best ideas win. Let's embrace free speech absolutism."
Nick Koutsobinas ✉
Nick Koutsobinas, a Newsmax writer, has years of news reporting experience. A graduate from Missouri State University’s philosophy program, he focuses on exposing corruption and censorship.
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