President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming efficiency chiefs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy ignited controversy l;ate this week among MAGA supporters by advocating for increased high-skilled immigration — a direct challenge to Trump’s first-term visa restrictions and policies.
“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk wrote on his social platform X. “Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.”
Ramaswamy, whose parents immigrated from India, blamed American cultural values for the engineering shortage.
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he wrote, arguing that American culture “has venerated mediocrity over excellence.”
The statements drew fierce criticism from MAGA loyalists and Trump allies.
“We welcomed the tech bros when they came running our way to avoid the 3rd grade teacher picking their kid’s gender,” wrote former Rep. Matt Gaetz. “We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”
Conservative commentator Laura Loomer attacked Musk, who “bought [his] way into MAGA 5 minutes ago,” claiming he and his “Big Tech buddies” are trying to “infiltrate” the Trump White House despite opposing “MAGA immigration policy.”
“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley wrote. “All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”
The debate intensified after Trump nominated venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as AI policy adviser.
Right-wing personality Mike Cernovich challenged the tech leaders’ narrative.
“The Woodstock generation managed to build out aerospace, the one before went to the moon, America was doing great. Underlying your post is that we were all living in squalor until being rescued by H-1B’s. Then why did everyone want to come here?”
Some Americans claim qualified U.S. graduates already struggle in the tech industry.
“My son graduated with honors with electrical and computer engineering degrees in 2023. He can not get an interview, let alone a job,” one parent wrote on X.
The controversy highlights growing tensions between Silicon Valley’s labor demands and Trump’s base as his technology leaders push to expand H-1B visas, which Trump restricted during his first term. Musk and Ramaswamy will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with streamlining federal operations.