The Daily Mail recently recalled President-elect Donald Trump once slammed the H-1B visa program during a 2016 Republican primary debate, saying, "We shouldn't have it."

Yet in a move that has stunned some of his supporters, Trump recently defended the issuance of visas to foreign workers. 

Trump: "We have to have the most competent people"

According to Breitbart, the president-elect made his comments to reporters during a New Year's Eve press conference, stating, "I didn’t change my mind."

BREAKING: Trump fires back at claims he "changed his mind" on H-1B visas, says we need "a lot of people coming in"

"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… pic.twitter.com/R7LOBS1AVt

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 1, 2025

"I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country. We need competent people," Trump continued.

" We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in," he insisted before promising that the country is "going to have jobs like we’ve never had before."

Trump voters express displeasure over visa statement

Those remarks came days after Trump told the New York Post, "I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That's why we have them."

H-1B visas have become a source of contention on the right, with Elon Musk advocating for them even as detractors have pointed to examples of fraud and abuse within the program.

Breitbart noted how Trump's words sparked a backlash among supporters on social media, with one person writing, "This is completely unacceptable."

"I've been a staunch Trump supporter since the escalator, but I’ll drop him like a bad habit if he supports foreigners taking our jobs," the social media user declared.

Another person said, "I love Trump and I’m going to go out of my way to be more positive. But I assure you that this messaging just simply isn’t what a large portion of MAGA wants to hear … it's likely to cause angst among supporters."

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

Interestingly, the New York Post reported that Musk has since presented a more nuanced view of the H-1B visa controversy.

He suggested in an X post that 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," Musk acknowledged before adding that "the changes made in the [Donald Trump] administration will make America much stronger."