The crackdown on illegal immigration has become a hallmark of Donald Trump’s political agenda, but the soon-to-be 47th leader of the free world may be open to safeguarding a visa program to help skilled foreign workers build careers in the U.S. On Saturday (Dec. 28), “The Apprentice” showman spoke with The New York Post about the H-1B work authorization for non-citizens.
“I’ve always liked the visas. I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” he told the outlet. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “This nonimmigrant classification applies to people who wish to perform services in a specialty occupation, services of exceptional merit and ability relating to a Department of Defense (DOD) cooperative research and development project, or services as a fashion model of distinguished merit or ability.”
Trump’s comments come three weeks before he will be sworn into office and only a day after Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke out in support of the visa program. The billionaire tech mogul was tapped by the president-elect in November to head the Department of Government Efficiency alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The agency will be tasked with overseeing government spending. On Twitter, he wrote, “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 H-1B.”
Musk also declared, “I will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,” as he hit back at a user who agreed that the wealthy businessman should “stop trying to optimize something that shouldn’t exist.”
Trump laid out a “day one” plan to preserve domestic companies' ability to recruit top workforce candidates in June, when he appeared on the “All-In Podcast.” While speaking about the hot topic of U.S. citizenship, the then-presidential nominee said, “It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools.”
He continued by suggesting a benefit tied to achieving higher education. “What I want to do and what I will do is [if] you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country, and that includes junior colleges, too," said the political leader. He reiterated his stance with, “If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country.”
Trump's administration previously imposed access restrictions on the visa amid claims that U.S. companies were forgoing hiring Americans for low-salaried foreign workers.