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Musk influence sparks fresh talk in Congress on high-skilled immigrants
POLITICOA Christmas Day social media brawl between President-elect Donald Trump’s backers in Silicon Valley and the MAGA base highlighted the looming battle facing the incoming White House and Congress over high-skilled immigration.
Early conversations are already taking place on Capitol Hill, where Republican lawmakers are openly mulling new plans to boost numbers of high-tech immigrants as Elon Musk and other tech billionaires — including many who have named skilled immigration a priority — flex their expanding influence on Trump and the GOP.
But this week’s online blowup suggests immigration hard-liners won’t surrender easily to Trump’s new tech friends. The president-elect’s Sunday naming of Sriram Krishnan, a former partner at venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz, to serve as his artificial intelligence adviser caused panic among Trump’s base, with many fretting over his recent advocacy for removing country caps on green cards for high-skilled workers. Laura Loomer, a far-right immigration restrictionist close to Trump, called Krishnan’s appointment “deeply disturbing” and said tech leaders are cozying up to Trump to “enrich themselves” and get Pentagon contracts.
Musk and David Sacks, another venture capitalist tapped to serve as Trump’s AI and crypto “czar,” fiercely defended Krishnan and his ideas from Loomer and other MAGA critics.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” Musk posted on X on Christmas Day, calling it “the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Musk later claimed that “America will LOSE” without more high-skilled immigrants.
Early conversations are already taking place on Capitol Hill, where Republican lawmakers are openly mulling new plans to boost numbers of high-tech immigrants as Elon Musk and other tech billionaires — including many who have named skilled immigration a priority — flex their expanding influence on Trump and the GOP.
But this week’s online blowup suggests immigration hard-liners won’t surrender easily to Trump’s new tech friends. The president-elect’s Sunday naming of Sriram Krishnan, a former partner at venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz, to serve as his artificial intelligence adviser caused panic among Trump’s base, with many fretting over his recent advocacy for removing country caps on green cards for high-skilled workers. Laura Loomer, a far-right immigration restrictionist close to Trump, called Krishnan’s appointment “deeply disturbing” and said tech leaders are cozying up to Trump to “enrich themselves” and get Pentagon contracts.
Musk and David Sacks, another venture capitalist tapped to serve as Trump’s AI and crypto “czar,” fiercely defended Krishnan and his ideas from Loomer and other MAGA critics.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” Musk posted on X on Christmas Day, calling it “the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Musk later claimed that “America will LOSE” without more high-skilled immigrants.
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