In December 2024, a battle erupted between the tech right and the nativist right over the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields. When President-elect Donald Trump weighed in, he threw his support behind H-1B defenders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. "I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That's why we have them," he told the New York Post. "I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times."
Fast forward to September 2025, when Trump announced that new H-1B visa applications would be subject to a $100,000 fee (though he reiterated his support for the program just two months later). Touted in a White House press release as a way to address the "systematic abuse of the program" that has "undermined both our economic and national security," the fee will ultimately harm American companies and communities.
