The controversy played out online over the holidays, with mainstream Republicans and far-right influencers joining the criticism.
Ramaswamy’s view on visas for skilled workers has been endorsed by Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who has been chosen to co-head Trump’s proposed “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Taking aim at American culture, Ramaswamy wrote, “A culture that honors the prom queen over the Math Olympiad champion, or the athlete over the graduate (the top student in the class), will not produce the best engineers.”
But Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.N. ambassador and former Republican presidential candidate, spoke out against the tech bosses.
“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” she wrote in response to X. “All you have to do is look across the border and see how many people want what we have. We must invest in and prioritize Americans over foreign workers.”
Haley, who like Ramaswamy was born to Indian immigrants, has spoken out against the visa program on far-right online accounts.
Laura Loomer, an anti-Islam activist who regularly peddles conspiracy theories but is also known for her staunch support of Trump, led the online charge with posts viewed millions of times.
Earlier this week, Loomer criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as the White House’s senior adviser on artificial intelligence. Loomer wrote that Krishnan was a “career leftist” who was “in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda.”
Encouraged by far-right X accounts, she also called Indian immigrants “invaders” and directed racist tropes against Krishnan.
Loomer then accused Musk, who owns X, of “censorship” for allegedly limiting replies to her messages on the network and removing her from the paid premium program.
Echoing Trump’s criticism of boss X’s influence, she wrote: “‘President Musk’ is starting to look real… Free speech is an illusion.”
Meanwhile, Musk defended the H-1B visa program, external as attracting “at most ~0.1%” of engineering talent.”
“Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mindset,” he tweeted.
But critics posted online screenshots of job postings at his companies filled with people on H1-B visas, with salaries starting at $200,000 and much less, and argued that the hires were not an elite talent pool but rather a way hold down US wages. -born workers.
The number of H-1B visas issued is capped at 65,000 per year, plus an additional 20,000 for people who have earned a master’s degree from a US institution.
The last ones a study of Boundless, externalan immigration consultancy, shows that about 73% of H-1B visas are issued to Indian nationals and 12% to Chinese nationals.
Trump has promised that mass deportations of undocumented immigrants will begin immediately after he takes office. He has been a critic of the H-1B program and strengthened eligibility for that visa during his first term.
Its vice-president J. D. Vance has also opposed the program, but has close ties to the tech world. In his previous career as a venture capitalist, Vance funded startups that hired H-1B visa workers.
In recent days, the president-elect has also denied being unduly influenced by Musk and other billionaires who have backed his campaign.
On Sunday, Trump told a conservative conference in Arizona that he was not in Musk’s hands.
“They’re on a new path, you know,” he told the crowd at AmericaFest, hosted by Turning Point USA. “All different deceptions. The new thing is that President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.”
“No, no, that’s not happening,” he said. “He will not be president.”
