The right has grown increasingly divided in recent days over the issuance of H-1B visas to foreign workers, with X owner Elon Musk and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon clashing over the program.

While President-elect Donald Trump expressed support for Musk, he has since been accused of making a political U-turn. 

Trump criticized visas during 2016 primary debate

"I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That's why we have them," Trump was quoted as telling the New York Post during a telephone interview on Saturday.

"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program," the president elect went on to add.

However, the Daily Mail pointed out how the president-elect's remarks appear to be in conflict with previous statements he made about H-1B visas in the past.

During a 2016 Republican primary debate, Trump described the programs as being "unfair," saying, "We shouldn't have it."

The newspaper noted that a reporter mentioned this discrepancy when speaking with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party.

Critics highlight examples of abuse

Yet Trump denied that his position had changed, telling the journalist, "I didn't change my mind. "I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country."

"We need competent people, we need smart people coming into our country and we need a lot of people coming in, we're going to have jobs like we've never had before," he insisted.

Despite being touted as a way to attract foreign professionals with vital skills, detractors allege that the H-1B program has become rife with fraud and is used to undercut wages for American workers.

H-1B DATA MEGA-THREAD 🧵

I downloaded five years of H-1B data from the US DOL website (4M+ records) and spent the day crunching data.

I went into this with an open mind, but, to be honest, I'm now *extremely* skeptical of how this program works.

Here's what I found 👇 pic.twitter.com/7MtC1bD8oV

— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) December 29, 2024

Interestingly, the New York Post reported that for his part, Musk seems to have softened his previously militant stance regarding H-1B visas.

Musk acknowledges that visa program "needs major reform"

In a social media post put up this past weekend, the tech billionaire acknowledged that fraud and abuse do exist within the program.

Musk suggested that such issues can be "fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically."

"I've been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform," the SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO continued before adding that "the changes made in the [Donald Trump] administration will make America much stronger."