Elon Musk Guides Donald Trump on H1 B Visa U-Turn Path
US President-elect Donald Trump Image credit X.com
I have many H-1B visas on my properties, says Donald Trump
By S Jha
New Delhi, December 29: Amid raging debate over the H-1B visa, the US President-elect Donald Trump has hailed the programme. Trump told the New York Post that he’s a firm believer in the H-1B visas.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great programme,” Trump told the US daily. His remarks came after the US billionaire Elon Musk was embroiled in public spat over the H-1B visa programme with Republican conservatives.
In 2016, Trump had vowed to eliminate the H-1B visa programme. The media reports from 2016 quote Trump, saying that H-1B visa has been used to import cheap labour from abroad. “The H-1B visa is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, explicitly for the purpose of substituting the American workers at lower pay,” Trump had said in 2016.
But Trump took a decisive U-turn on Saturday, saying that “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas. That’s why we have them.”
Trump’s remarks came also after the raging debate over the nomination of India origin Sriram Krishnan. The nominee is an American venture capitalist. Trump nominated him for the position of an adviser on artificial intelligence.
Musk is also a South African born American citizen. His company, Tesla, heavily employs the H-1B visa holders. Musk was the lead campaigner for Trump during the presidential elections while also having been nominated for laying the reform in governance.
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Reports stated that H-1B visa account for just 0.05 per cent of the US labour force. Trump, however, had vowed to evict the illegal immigrants from the US. He had especially targeted Mexico for his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Trump associate Steve Bannon had led attacks on the H-1B visa programme after the nomination of Krishnan for the key AI role in the upcoming administration. He hit out at “big tech oligarchs”. Bannon accused the billionaires for supporting the H-1B visa.
But Musk shot back, arguing against legal and illegal immigration. “America rose to greatness over the past 150 years, because it was a meritocracy more than anywhere else on Earth. I will fight to my last drop of blood to ensure that it remains that land of freedom and opportunity,” Musk posted on X amid the raging debate over H-1B visa programme.
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