US President Donald Trump’s latest comments on H-1B visas stirred a row within his MAGA base, after he appeared to soften his tough stance on immigration by suggesting the US should welcome more foreign workers to the land of bald eagles.In a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, Trump said that the US is in dire need of skilled immigrant workers in key industries. “I agree, but you also have to bring this talent,” he said when asked whether H‑1B visa reform remains a top priority. He added that while he supports raising wages for American workers, the US cannot rely solely on long-term unemployed Americans for highly technical roles in manufacturing or defence.When the interviewer said there was plenty of talent in the US and no need to flood industries with thousands of foreign workers, Trump denied it without hesitation.“No, you don’t. There are certain skills you don’t have, and people have to learn them. You can’t take people off the unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory where we’re going to make missiles,’” Trump said.The GOP leader also argued that industries requiring specialised expertise cannot be filled by untrained or long-term unemployed workers. “You can’t just say a country is coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant, and take people off the unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years, and they’re going to start making missiles. It doesn’t work that way,” he said.Trump’s remarks come after his administration implemented a $100,000 fee for new H‑1B visa applications in September. MAGA supporters were not happy and erupted online over the president’s comments.
- “Maybe POTUS doesn’t know we have engineers and techies who are on that unemployment line, or far under employed because the companies who hire H1Bs don’t advertise to Americans. Ignorance is not becoming in a president,” one wrote.
- “When a president loses faith in his own people, he forfeits the nation’s soul. To distrust your citizens while flooding the country with 600,000 students from a rival power isn’t leadership—it’s betrayal. A nation without trust cannot stand.”
- “Horrific, insulting answer to the hundreds of thousands of displaced workers in tech and beyond. Meanwhile new grads sit in the unemployment line so someone from mostly 1 other country can take their place.”
- “I don’t know who you are lady, but you just absolutely permanently destroyed what remained of the positive image that I, and many others, had of Trump. Thanks for revealing who he really is.”
- “Thanks for doing your job. It’s too bad POTUS turned his back on the American people and sold us out to foreigners and big corporations.”