A MAGA ‘civil war’ on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas

Far-right activists clashed online with billionaire Elon Musk and other supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over the need for a skilled-worker immigration program that has long been a lifeblood for Silicon Valley - signifying a potential rift between Trump’s core nationalist base and technology executives who have come to support him.

The fight that spilled into public view over the holiday week could preview a wedge within Trump’s coalition over how to execute immigration policy, an issue that animated Trump’s White House campaign.

The controversy spread across X after far-right activist Laura Loomer on Monday criticized Trump’s choice to name Sriram Krishnan, a technology entrepreneur and investor who was born in India, as his senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence. She pointed to Krishnan’s previous support for removing some caps on green cards and easing the ability of skilled foreign workers to come to the United States. The policy is “in direct opposition” to Trump’s agenda, Loomer wrote.

The critique sparked a broader debate about immigration in the tech industry, which relies heavily on a visa program that allows foreigners with technical skills to work in the United States for up to six years under H-1B nonimmigrant status.

It ran headlong into tension with some of Trump’s closest advisers, notably Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk; David Sacks, who will be the president-elect’s AI and crypto czar; and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead a commission to cut government spending.

Ramaswamy argued American culture doesn’t produce enough skilled workers to fuel cutting-edge companies. “‘Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent,” he wrote on X. “And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our a--es handed to us by China.”

The online fight sparked a slew of racist posts from Loomer and allegations of censorship. She said her X account lost its verified status and premium subscribers because Musk, who owns the platform, was retaliating against her.

A screenshot purporting to show that Loomer’s X account had been flagged for violating rules against “posting other people’s private information” bounced around the social network. The Washington Post could not independently verify the authenticity of the post.

“So much for free speech,” she said in an X post on Friday. “Quite totalitarian if you ask me.”

Notable Republicans, including former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, championed Loomer’s position. “If the tech industry needs workers, invest in our education system,” Haley said in a post on X on Friday. “Invest in our American workforce. We must invest in Americans first before looking elsewhere.”

Tech executives, including Musk, have said they would prefer to hire American workers because obtaining visas for foreign workers can be time-consuming and costly. But Musk, who once held an H-1B visa and has relied on the program to employ thousands of Tesla employees, said recruiting foreign workers is a crucial way technology companies obtain the best engineering talent to compete globally.

“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk wrote on X on Christmas. “If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be.”

The online feud reflects the challenges that Trump will have holding together the delicate political coalition that delivered him the White House, which included unprecedented levels of financial support from Musk and other Silicon Valley billionaires.

“It’s a sign of future conflicts,” said Samuel Hammond, a senior economist at the Foundation for American Innovation. “This is like the pregame.”

Krishnan declined to comment. Loomer and a representative for the Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment. Trump traveled with Loomer during the campaign, but amid criticism of her previous statements, he said in September he doesn’t “control” her.

Trump has sought to position himself as a champion for legal immigration, even though he slashed pathways for immigrants during his first term. Trump has offered few specifics about how he will address high-skilled immigration in the tech industry during his second term.

On a June episode of the “All In” podcast, which is co-hosted by Sacks, Trump said he would automatically give a green card to every international student with a college diploma.

“If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he said.

Ahead of the first Trump administration, many tech CEOs sought to build bridges with the president-elect during the transition with a meeting at his New York Trump Tower. But those delicate relationships broke down when Trump almost immediately rolled out what critics and federal judges have branded a “Muslim ban,” which prohibited U.S. entry by the citizens of several majority-Muslim countries.

The episode amounted to a “shock wave” in the industry, where many founders and workers are immigrants, Hammond said.

“Immigration is an economically important issue for tech, but also in many cases a personal one,” he said. “They all understand the inefficiencies and the bureaucracy around the U.S. immigration system and the Kafkaesque nightmares it can throw you in.”

But this time, the tech industry is far more directly intertwined in Trump’s transition. Self-described “first buddy” Elon Musk has spent much of the weeks since Election Day by the president-elect’s side, and Trump has tapped many Silicon Valley investors and executives to serve in prominent roles within his administration.

As Silicon Valley companies compete to create artificial intelligence products, the need for foreign-born talent has intensified. Twenty eight of the top 43 AI companies in the United States were co-founded by immigrants, and 70 percent of full-time graduate students in AI-related fields are international students, according to a 2023 analysis from the National Foundation for American Policy.

As Trump previews a hard-line immigration policy including militarized mass deportation of illegal immigrants, many in the tech industry are pushing him to expand legal immigration for high-skilled workers. Some argue the shift is necessary for the United States to remain competitive with China.

High-skilled immigration emerged as one of the top flash points between Trump and Silicon Valley during his first presidency. Although Trump at times acknowledged the need for American companies to recruit top talent, his administration limited the H-1B program. Stephen Miller, who helped craft some immigration policies during the first Trump administration, is returning to the White House as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.

The online debate reverberated among Washington lawmakers, who have long pursued ways to improve the H-1B program. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, defended Krishnan and said he supported reforming the H-1B program.

“We should celebrate that immigrants like Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Sriram Krishnan choose to come to the United States,” he told The Washington Post. “This has fueled our economic and technology preeminence. I am glad Sriram is being appointed.”

The restrictions of H-1B visas during Trump’s first term faced fierce opposition from major tech companies. During the pandemic, Trump temporarily froze H-1B visas in a move the administration said would help Americans experiencing job loss. That same year, the Trump administration also introduced new rules tightening eligibility for H-1B visas and requiring companies to offer higher salaries to people on the visas. A federal judge later rejected some of the rules, including the salary provision.

During President Joe Biden’s final weeks in office, his administration has introduced rules to “modernize” the H-1B program by making it easier for international students to obtain the visas and improving the efficiency of the application process.

“These reforms target systematic misuse by IT consulting firms while acknowledging the program’s demonstrated net positive impact on U.S. technological competitiveness,” said Divyansh Kaushik, a vice president at Beacon Global Strategies.

Technology companies are particularly reliant on H-1B visas - which are capped at 85,000 new visas annually - to help recruit talent. Amazon, with 3,871 new H-1B employees, had the most approved new petitions in 2024, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan organization National Foundation for American Policy. Google had 1,058 approved applications, and Tesla had 742, the data showed. (The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.)

Ramaswamy said in an X post on Thursday that the reason technology companies hire foreign-born engineers is because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” drawing criticism from notable pro-Trump personalities.

Brenden Dilley, a pro-Trump podcaster, shot back to Ramaswamy’s post. “I always love when these tech bros flat out tell you that they have zero understanding of American culture and then have the gall to tell you that YOU are the problem with America,” he wrote.

Loomer, who has 1.4 million followers on X, unleashed a slew of racist posts falsely describing Indians as “third world invaders” with low IQs, and calling the clash a “civil war” between Trump’s far-right base and the “tech bros” that have come to support his upcoming administration.

She also sparred with Musk over his support of the H-1B program, questioning the skills of Indian programmers at X because of glitches during a May live event on the site kicking off Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign. “Loomer is trolling for attention. Ignore.” Musk said on X.

Loomer said she hopes the feud with Silicon Valley changes Trump’s views.

“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” she said on X. “Let’s pray this fake Big Tech ‘love fest’ with Trump ends sooner rather than later.”

Elizabeth Dwoskin contributed to this report.