Will the anti-immigrant MAGA crowd prevail on Trump’s H1B policy?

As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office later this month, the battle over H1B visa policy has become one of the defining fault lines between his diehard “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base and his more business-aligned supporters, particularly from the tech industry.

Trump has long been associated with a populist, nativist agenda, but he would find it difficult to navigate his way among supporters as tensions mount regarding the role of skilled immigrants in the US economy.

The H1B visa programme allows US companies to hire foreign workers in specialised fields.

While Trump’s hard-right supporters have argued for tighter restrictions on immigration and preference for American jobseekers, figures like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—co-chairs of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge)—have come out in support of a more open policy to attract high-skilled foreign talent.

While Trump has recently signalled support for the H1B programme, aligning with Musk and Ramaswamy in an interview with The New York Post, his final policy decision remains uncertain as he prepares to assume the presidency on January 20.

“Trump is caught between MAGA and Musk in this battle over immigration,” says Chidananda Rajghatta, a Washington-based Indian-American journalist and author.

“In fact, Trump himself appears conflicted, having expressed support for such programmes at times while opportunistically opposing them to appease his MAGA base,” he tells TRT World.

Rajghatta notes that even Musk has acknowledged flaws in the H1B visa system under pressure from MAGA activists.

“The more hardline MAGA warriors want more than reforms; they want all immigration stopped,” he explains, warning that such extreme measures contradict America’s foundational values as a nation built by immigrants.

“If laws and regulations become even more prohibitive, Indian students and professionals will increasingly look to alternative destinations like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand,” he notes.

MAGA vs Silicon Valley

In the wake of the appointment of India-born Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor for Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the White House and with figures such as Musk and Ramaswamy backing immigrant engineers, the line between Trump’s economic and immigration policies has started to blur.

This conflict is emblematic of a larger divide within the Republican Party.

While MAGA supporters advocate for a near-moratorium on immigration, tech leaders like Musk emphasise the importance of skilled workers for maintaining the US innovation edge.

“When the more hardline MAGA nativists say ‘Make America Great Again,’ they actually mean ‘Make America White Again,’” Rajghatta contends.

While this fringe seeks to regress to a pre-immigration America dating “back to 1776 or before,” according to Rajghatta, broader MAGA circles, including figures like Musk and Ramaswamy, recognise the critical role of immigrants in the nation’s success.

Musk, in particular, has been vocal about the shortage of highly skilled engineers in the US, arguing that his companies—Tesla, SpaceX, and others—would prefer to hire Americans but are forced to rely on foreign talent due to the lack of qualified domestic candidates.

However, this approach risks overlooking the broader contributions of skilled workers who may not initially be elites but thrive within America’s unique ecosystem.

Musk himself is an immigrant who made his way up by buying and initiating start-ups.

“The US ecosystem makes them elite. Satya Nadella and even Elon Musk himself didn’t arrive in the US as established elites. They were shaped by America’s opportunities and institutions," underlines Rajghatta.

Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur, also noted that the lack of competitive US-born engineers was partly a cultural issue, pointing out that American society has, in his view, undervalued excellence in favour of celebrating mediocrity.

These views stand in stark contrast to the growing influence of far-right factions, led by figures like Laura Loomer, who have pushed for restrictions on foreign workers, particularly from countries like India, which sends a large number of H1B visa holders to Silicon Valley.

Attracting the world's brightest minds

The MAGA movement’s opposition to immigration presents a fundamental contradiction. The “Make America Great Again” slogan, central to Trump’s platform, invokes the idea of a prosperous, thriving America—a country that was built on the hard work and ingenuity of immigrants from all corners of the world.

The US has long been a nation that attracts the world’s brightest minds, and many sectors, especially technology, owe their success to the contributions of skilled immigrants.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrive in the US each year to work in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Between 2000 and 2019, the number of STEM workers in the United States grew by 44.5 percent, rising from 7.5 million to over 10.8 million, according to an American Immigration Council fact sheet.

India accounted for the largest share, representing 28.9 percent of all foreign-born STEM workers. Other significant contributors included China (10.9 percent), Mexico (4.8 percent), Vietnam (4 percent) and the Phillipines (3.5 percent).

Indian immigrants, in particular, have been crucial to the growth of Silicon Valley and the broader US tech industry.

Prominent figures of foreign origin have played a significant role in shaping the global success of American tech giants, including Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Nvidia's Jensen Huang.

Recently, there has been a particular backlash against professionals of Indian origin. This happened after Trump announced the names of several Indian-origin people as part of his new administration.

Rajghatta warns of the broader implications: “Even the MAGA elites like Musk and Ramaswamy are getting torched by the MAGA base, which accuses them of enriching themselves at America’s expense.”

H1B workers have made significant contributions not only to the tech industry but also to the broader US economy. In addition to filling critical roles in engineering and research and development, they have contributed to the startup ecosystem, with many tech entrepreneurs hailing from immigrant backgrounds.

According to a study by the National Foundation for American Policy, immigrants are responsible for founding nearly half of US startups valued at over $1 billion. Many of these entrepreneurs started their journey with H1B visas.