‘I Will Go To War On This…’ Elon Musk Backs Sriram Krishnan, Slams MAGA Loyalists As H-1B Row Intensifies In US

Amid the high-pitch war of words over hiring H-1B visa-holders in America, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been handpicked by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead his proposed Department of Government Efficiency, joined the debate Saturday morning with a strong comment. The owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), asked right-wingers and MAGA loyalists to “take a big step back” as H-1B visa row intensified. 

“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and **** ******** in the face,” Musk posted on the social media platform owned by him.

“I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,” he added.

Skilled professionals from other countries need the H-1B visa to work in the US, and it is quite popular among immigrants, with Indians forming a big part of this chunk of the American population.

A large number of people on social media, especially the Make America Great Again (MAGA) loyalists, have been for the last few days speaking against immigrants, after the President-elect appointed Indian-American Sriram Krishnan as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House. Krishnan had earlier spoken in favour of removing caps for green cards.  

Musk taking side of the immigrants and blasting right-wingers and Trump supporters is big because he is a close ally of the President-elect set to assume office on January 20. Musk had gone all out to campaign for him, both online and offline, and is credited with playing a big role in Trump’s return to power scripting one of the biggest political comebacks in the history of the US. 

What Is The H1B Visa Row?

“Anything to remove country caps for green cards / unlock skilled immigration would be huge,” Sriram Krishnan had said in November, speaking in favour of bringing more skilled professionals to the US on H-1B visa.

This hadn’t gone down well with anti-immigration MAGA loyalists, and a controversy broke out after his appointment to the White House, with right winger Laura Loomer criticising his stance to be “not America First policy”.

She also called tech executives “termites”, and that they are aligning themselves with Donald Trump only to “enrich” themselves.

“…the tech billionaires are lining up outside the gates of Mar a Lago with their checkbooks. They want to buy influence so they can sabotage Trump’s immigration policies,” she posted on December 26.

A heated debate has been continuing on social media on what will be the immigration policy under Donald Trump, with right-wingers denouncing even the influence of Elon Musk and investors like Vivek Ramaswamy who are pro-immigration. 

Vivek Ramaswamy is co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with Musk, whose job will be to cut by a third the size of the US government.

The debate comes close on the heels of the presidential election that saw immigration as one of the most important issues, with Trump vowing to end illegal immigration and deport those who are already in the US. However, while his presidential campaign was centered around the issue of illegal immigration, the current debate is all about legal immigrants.

While the anti-immigration lobby says skilled professionals working in the US on H-1B visa bite into the pie of jobs meant for US citizens, with some of them even calling for the visa programme to be discontinued with, technology companies say such immigrants are critical for the functioning of the sector as they fill a big gap.

Trump, who had as a presidential candidate in 2016 called the H-1B visa regime “very bad” and “unfair” for US workers, is yet to say anything on the debate this time round. 

H1B Visa Row: Who Said What

Trump may not have said anything on the matter yet, the debate over the H1B Visa programme has many prominent people speaking up. 

While Musk posted that there is a “permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent” and that it’s “the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley”, Ramaswamy said American culture was to be blamed for the fact that there is a lack on US-born engineers, as he suggested Americans have “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long”.

Ramaswamy also said: “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”

His comments did not go down well with many.

Nikki Haley opposed Ramaswamy, saying: “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture… We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”

Meanwhile, batting for immigrants, Ashish K Jha, Indian-American physician and academic who was the White House Covid-19 response coordinator from 2022–2023, said: “…foreign medical graduates are also WAY more likely to practice in rural areas, practice in other underserved areas, and go into primary care.” He added: “So yes, they are filling a critical need…And they are good too.”

Here is a look at what others are saying: