TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump once again threw his weight behind H-1B guest worker visas, enraging his MAGA warriors with the suggestion that the program can also be used to bring high quality waiters and wine experts to America.
After tossing red meat to the MAGA masses slavering for action to curtail all immigration with a series of executive orders, Trump bizarrely opened a new front by canvassing for wider use of the H-1B program to attract top global talent beyond STEM areas.
“We want competent people coming into our country. And HB1 [Sic], I know the program very well. I use the program… Maître d’, wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters, you’ve got to get the best people,” Trump said at a White House People like Larry, he needs engineers, NASA also needs… engineers like nobody’s ever needed them,” Trump said.
“HB1 [Sic], I know the program very well. I use the program… maître d’s, wine experts, even waiters, high quality waiters. You got to get the best people,” Trump said, mischaracterizing the visa at a White House event where tech oligarchy like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Open AI CEO Sam Altman, and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son were present.
People like Larry, he needs engineers, NASA also needs engineers like nobody’s ever needed them,” Trump said.
The unscripted remarks enraged MAGA warriors who only yesterday were celebrating Trump’s executive orders putting a hex on immigration across the board, including constitutionally approved birthright citizenship
“Friendly reminder to Trump: the people who put you in office don’t care about the quality of the wait staff at Michelin restaurants. We don’t need H-1B waiters because your restaurant manager thinks they know more about fine wine,” one critic wrote on X, while another said the comment was “proof that Trump is just doing the bidding of his donors on H-1B.”
While some MAGA acolytes like Elon Musk and others have batted for H-1B which acknowledging the program has to be streamlined the “best and the brightest,” hardcore MAGA led by the likes of Steve Bannon, a former Trump advisor, are canning the program completely rather than fine-tuning it. They reject the argument that there is a shortage of talent in the US and say such visa programs providing a pathway to citizenship is resulting in demographic changes and the browning of America.
Trump said he saw both sides of the argument, but he also liked “very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do.”
Agitated Trump supporters also shared widely online a story about a US border patrol agent reportedly shot dead on the day Trump took office by an H-1B worker whose visa had expired. Local reports identified the alleged shooter as Felix Bauckholt, a German citizen.
