Conservatives have grown increasingly divided over the issuance of H1B visas to foreign workers, with X owner Elon Musk defending the program.

While President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he sides with Musk, the tech billionaire now appears to be reconsidering his position. 

Trump: "I've always liked the visas"

"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 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.

Although the H-1B visas have been touted as a way to attract foreign professionals with vital skills, detractors allege that the program is rife with fraud and is used to undercut 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

In a social media post this past Thursday, Musk likened the use of H1B visas to "bringing in the Jokic’s or Wemby’s of the world to help your whole team (which is mostly Americans!) win the NBA."

Musk threatened to "go to war" over H1B visas

That came after an earlier post in which Musk declared, "The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B."

"Take a big step back and F–K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend," he added.

Yet the Post reported on Sunday that Musk seemed to soften his position and acknowledge that fraud and misuse of the program does indeed exist.

Musk admits that "the program is broken and needs major reform"

He asserted that such problems 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.

Musk concluded by saying he is "confident that the changes made in the [Donald Trump] administration will make America much stronger."