Elon Musk jumps into US immigration debate, gives sharp response to CEO’s ‘immigrants taking over jobs’ question

Donald Trump's supporters are engaged in an online spat over the United States' immigration policies, with Laura Loomer advocating for a more hardline approach, while Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy push for increased pathways for highly skilled workers.

The “internal divisions” were on public display between Trump's traditional Republican base and the new wealthy additions such as billionaire and the world's richest man, Musk.

Elon Musk Bats For Skilled Workers

The tech mogul speaking to a CEO social media user on X (formerly known as Twitter) noted that the US has a shortage of skilled tech workers.

Amjad Masad questioned: “Are there actual instances where qualified native born Americans couldn’t get jobs in tech because foreigners took all of them? I’d be surprised if it’s true because at any given point there are hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs in tech.”

To which Musk replied: “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.”

What Happened?

The debate touched off this week when Loomer criticized Trump’s pick of Indian American Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence (AI) policy. Notably, Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the US and she called his nomination “not America First policy”, adding that tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.

Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns with David Sacks (Trump's pick for ‘White House A.I. & Crypto Czar’), Musk and Ramaswamy defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. Others on Loomers' side of the debate also weighed-in on the “need to hire US workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for”, as per an AP report.

Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online, the report added.

(With inputs from AP)