Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend a U.S. visa program for foreign technology workers called H-1B, amid a dispute between the U.S. elected president’s longtime supporters. President Donald Trump and his most recent supporters came from the technology industry.
In a post on the social media platform
“I will wage a war on this issue that you absolutely cannot imagine,” he added.
Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in South Africa, held an H-1B visa, and his electric car company Tesla received 724 of those visas this year. H-1B visas are typically issued for a period of three years, but holders can extend them or apply for permanent residency.
Musk’s tweet was aimed at Trump supporters and immigration hardliners who are increasingly pushing for the elimination of the H-1B visa program amid a heated debate over immigration and the status of skilled immigrants and foreign workers brought into the country on work visas .
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So far, Trump has remained silent on the issue. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment about Musk’s tweets and the H-1B visa debate.
In the past, Trump has expressed his willingness to provide more work visas for skilled workers. He has also promised to deport all immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, impose tariffs to create more jobs for American citizens and sharply restrict immigration.
The issue shows how tech leaders like Musk — who played a major role in the presidential transition and advised on key personnel and policy areas — are now capturing the attention of his base.
The U.S. tech industry relies on the government’s H-1B visa program to hire foreign professionals to help run their companies. Critics say this workforce undercuts the wages of American citizens.
US President-elect Donald Trump continues to round out his team with MAGA hardliners, including Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman and outspoken critic of Justin Trudeau, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Trump rival Marco Rubio is expected to be named secretary of state.
The row was sparked earlier this week by far-right activists who criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist, as an artificial intelligence adviser and said he would influence the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
On Friday, Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump confidant, criticized “Big Tech oligarchs” for supporting the H-1B program and called immigration a threat to Western civilization.
In response, Musk and many other tech billionaires drew a line between what they consider legal immigration and illegal immigration.
Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump become president in November. He has written regularly this week about the lack of homegrown talent to fill all the positions needed at American tech companies.
