How the H-1B fight can make MAGA stronger

On Christmas Day, a debate erupted on X between different factions of the right over H-1B worker visas after businessmen like Elon Musk, David Sacks, and Vivek Ramaswamy spoke up in favor of the program.

From its earliest days, the MAGA movement has been about restriction of both illegal and legal immigration, insisting that American workers should be given priority. Musk is a recent convert to some of MAGA, supporting Donald Trump on issues like free speech and illegal immigration, but he and Ramaswamy have always supported an expansion of legal immigration, in opposition to the president’s core voters.

Many have called this a dangerous fissure in the coalition, but that is to misunderstand the nature of coalition-building. The Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs joined forces with the populists to defeat a common enemy, and now they must attempt to find a path forward that allows each to achieve their goals. This debate is healthy and necessary, placing immigration at the front of the national consciousness as soon as Trump takes office.

At the core of the debate is the question of how many skilled workers should be brought in to compete for American jobs. Musk and Ramaswamy have characterized the H-1B as a way to bring geniuses like Nikola Tesla and Wernher von Braun into the country, but this is a distortion of reality. The O-1 visa program, which is itself rife with abuse, already exists to bring in individuals who possess extraordinary abilities in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.

Musk might reap all the benefits of profit and achievement, but it will be the people of these United States who pay the costs.

If the H-1B was eliminated tomorrow, America would not be robbed of any “once in a generation” talent. These businessmen are not worried about missing the next Einstein; they are worried about not having enough cheap labor.

During these exchange on X, Musk repeatedly suggested that he simply could not find the engineering talent necessary to run his companies inside the United States. I am extremely skeptical of this assertion, as I personally know several bright engineers who cannot find employment and have received dozens of messages from graduates with the same issue.

Ramaswamy took things a step farther, asserting that American culture and its veneration of the football player over the nerd made the U.S. uncompetitive on the world stage. In addition to being incredibly condescending, Ramaswamy also ignored the fact that talent in the United States has been intentionally suppressed to serve the DEI agenda of the left.

For decades, Americans have been told that they need to import millions of foreign workers to do manual labor that citizens will not do. Shut out from working-class jobs, many Americans rose to the challenge, gaining the necessary education and credentials for more skilled jobs, only to find that they were excluded from new, well-paying jobs because they did not meet the diversity requirements.

Now U.S. citizens are being told that they must once again take a back seat because foreign workers will do jobs the jobs Americans would absolutely love to do, but for less pay. It is not hard to see why so many MAGA voters are feeling betrayed.

Musk attempted to use the analogy of the sports team to justify his approach to importing talent. If a team wants to win, it needs to be willing to recruit the top players at every position, no matter the cost. But this comparison hurts the tech billionaire’s case more than it helps. Sports fans have complained for decades that they are losing connection with their favorite teams because the teams do not represent the fans or have any loyalty to them.

The reason people used to care about their local college team is that it reflected the best their community had to offer. The players had real ties to the towns they played in and reflected their culture.

Now teams are certainly better, but they are completely mercenary. A player will leave a city that has supported him for years if he can get 5% more in salary negotiations elsewhere. Entire teams will leave the fans who have cheered for them for decades if it means securing a new stadium. Nobody likes this attitude in modern sports teams. They certainly do not want it from their governments.

It is very doubtful that the talent to achieve greatness does not currently reside in these United States, but if that is the case, then it is the duty of the tech sector to cultivate it. Many American educational institutions were specifically founded by industrialists who were seeking to train a more capable workforce. Start a tech boot camp, taking promising students right out of high school so that they can bypass the modern college scam and move directly to earning valuable work experience. The Silicon Valley moguls should be looking to invest in American workers, not replace them.

The tech oligarchs are valuable. They bring much-needed funding and reach to the populist cause, and it is no exaggeration to say that Trump owes his second term in some part to Musk purchasing Twitter, now X. The owner of SpaceX wants to go to Mars, and Americans are at their greatest when they are exploring a new frontier.

But the tech CEOs are also monomaniacal. They must be in order to achieve what they do. Musk might reap all the benefits of profit and achievement, but it will be the people of these United States who pay the costs. Population decline is one of Musk’s great fears, but if he really wants people to have children, then he needs to give them future opportunities to strive for.

The backlash to Musk and Ramaswamy was so severe because Republican voters have had the rug pulled out from under them on the issue of immigration so many times before. Time after time, politicians promise increased security and border walls, if only conservatives will agree to amnesty or a path to citizenship.

Republican voters make the compromise, but the restrictions never come, and more immigrants continue to flood the country, competing for jobs and housing. Musk has already built up credit with MAGA over his support for Trump and purchase of Twitter, but he is burning through it quickly by insulting people who are simply trying to care about the future of their children.

If Musk, Sacks, and Ramaswamy want to create goodwill, demonstrating an ability to listen to the people who make up the movement they joined five minutes ago would go a long way. Musk has already deleted some of his more egregious comments and suggested a few adjustments to cut down on H-1B abuse. This is a good start, but it is not enough.

If the H-1B is really what Musk claims it is, then why not tax corporations 100% on salaries paid to foreign workers and invest that money in training Americans? If tech CEOs are only using the H-1B to hire geniuses and not undercut American labor, then it must be worth paying double the going rate.

One important thing in this fight is that MAGA gets to have this debate because Trump won, and the tech oligarchs were a part of making that happen. Working out these disagreements is important, and men like Musk and Ramaswamy have a duty to be leaders by listening to and respecting the people who put Trump in office in 2016.

In a way, the timing of this debate is a gift because it ensures that immigration will be at the forefront of the American mind as Trump enters office. Americans want leaders who put America first, prioritizing the workers of this nation and cultivating their talent. The people of our nation have been held back by the bigotry and bias of the left. Now is the time to unleash that talent and energy, not replace it.