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A battle between Elon Musk and Maga supporters over immigration has highlighted the rift between Donald Trump’s new supporters in Silicon Valley and his more radical base.
Controversy over immigration policy and visa plans for foreign workers stems from Trump’s appointment of former Andreessen Horowitz partner Shriram Krishna as the White House’s top policy adviser on artificial intelligence.
The move sparked a backlash against Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign, which quickly turned into a debate over H-1B visas — a program that draws skilled foreign workers critical to U.S. tech groups.
Right-wing activist Laura Lomer said, referring to Krishnan’s post in which he advocated removing the country’s cap on green cards to “open up skilled immigration.” Posted on Monday at X “It was shocking to see the number of job seekers now appointed to serve in the Trump administration who share views that oppose Trump’s America First agenda.”
Rep. Trump has jumped the gun in the real world. Far-right activists have backed Lomer, who in turn has attacked tech executives in the president-elect’s orbit, including Musk and David Sachs. Appointed as White House AI and crypto tsar And he is set to work closely with Krishnan.
Mook, himself an immigrant to America, set out to hire highly skilled foreign workers. “There is a severe shortage of highly skilled and motivated engineers” in America. He said 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 the other side, America loses.”
The split raises questions about whether two distinct wings of Trump’s constituency — some of America’s most powerful tech executives and right-wing activists — can coexist.
Tech bosses have historically been targets of Trump’s ire Raised A charm offensive against the president-elect in recent weeks, donating to inauguration funds and dining with him at Mar-a-Lago.
“Big tech execs think they run things now,” Loomer said He wrote on X on Thursday. “One day they rub Trump the wrong way and it gets worse. The blowup between Maga and the Tech Bros will be glorious.”
Online sparring has focused on Musk, who has become one of Trump’s most outspoken cheerleaders after taking on the role of loyalist. Bunkers During the presidential campaign. He blamed President-elect Mukherjee and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for slashing government spending and federal legislation.
in A long post on X On Thursday, Ramaswamy said that American culture called for skilled immigration to be “mediocrity over excellence,” prompting further backlash from Maga supporters.
Musk turned to a sports analogy on Thursday, hoping to end the online frenzy. “Perhaps this is a helpful explanation. I’m saying legal immigration is essential for America to continue winning the top ~0.1% of engineering talent.” He wrote on X.
“It’s like bringing in the Jokic or Wembies of the world to help your entire team (mostly Americans!) win the NBA,” he said, referring to foreign players in the US Basketball League.
Krishnan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Visas were key to the growth of Silicon Valley, including the H-1B program, and remain key to sustaining America’s dominant technology sector.
“H-1B is very important to Silicon Valley,” said Hiba Anver, a partner in the Erickson Immigration Group. “There is more than one type of company-sponsored visa, but the H1-B is the visa most people can qualify for.”
The US government allows 85,000 new users each fiscal year. The rates for policies later ruled illegal by the courts have risen sharply during Trump’s first presidency.
Unlike other visa categories, “you don’t have to be born in the same country, you don’t have to work in the same company in a foreign office, and the proof bar is not that high,” Anver said.
In the race to overtake China in technological developments, from semiconductors to AI, attracting talent is key for the US tech sector.
“The complexity of bringing people here and how that affects their creativity has been overwhelming feedback from the executives I talk to,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of Futurum Group.
“If you look at some of the biggest breakthroughs in innovation, the skills, engineering and technology are often started by people who come on visas,” he said.
