Summary
Senator Bernie Sanders criticized Elon Musk over his support for the H-1B visa program, calling it a tool for corporations to replace good-paying American jobs with lower-wage foreign labor.
Sanders cited data showing U.S. companies laid off 85,000 American workers between 2022 and 2023 while hiring 34,000 H-1B visa holders, arguing this undermines U.S. competitiveness.
Musk, who credits the visa program for his success, defended it, stating he’s ready to “go to war” over the issue.
The debate has divided MAGA conservatives, exposing rifts within Trump’s coalition.
Those immigrants are basically being worked as indentured slaves whose only way to remain in the US is to accept whatever bad deal the corpos throw at them. IF the immigrants were guaranteed the same wages with no dependency on their employers to stay in the US and look for fair work, he would have far less of a problem with it. On a level playing field immigration is okay, but if the corpos basically import slave labor it’s not.
Right now H-1B visas are being used to play the foreign working class against the domestic working class, this is precisely what he argues against.