President Donald Trump has sparked intense backlash from members of his own political coalition after defending a controversial visa program that allows foreign workers into the United States.
The president’s comments emerged during a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham that aired Tuesday; one that some supporters have dubbed as “an embarrassing disgrace” and “out of touch.”
During the interview, Trump argued for the continued use of H-1B visas to bring skilled workers into the country. These visas permit U.S. companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers for periods of up to six years.
Trump insisted during the exchange that bringing foreign workers to America through H-1B visas remains essential to “bring in talent” to the nation.
When the Fox News host pushed back by suggesting America already possesses sufficient talent domestically, the president firmly disagreed.
“No, you don’t. No, you don’t. You don’t have, you don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn!” Trump said. “You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say I’m gonna put you into a factory where we’re gonna make missiles.”
The president also stood by previous statements supporting the entry of up to 600,000 Chinese students into the United States. Trump told Ingraham these students need to study at American institutions to prevent U.S. colleges from going “out of business.”
The H-1B visa program has long divided Americans between those who see it as vital for maintaining competitive advantage and critics who contend visa holders displace American workers.
Nicholas Fuentes, who recently sparked controversy with his appearance on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, tweeted: “MAGA is dead.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) immediately responded to Trump’s statements, declaring herself “America First and America Only.”
“I believe in the American people. I am one of you. I believe you are good, talented, creative, intelligent, hardworking, and want to achieve. I am solidly against you being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs,” Greene said.
“I am solidly against allowing foreign students into our colleges and universities, like 600,000 Chinese students, just to financially prop them up. If they fail, they fail. The system in place isn’t helping our young people anyway.”
Additional Republican voices expressed concern about potential electoral consequences.
Anthony Sabatini, a Republican county commissioner in Florida, warned about the 2026 midterm elections.
“This is insane—we’re going to lose the mid-terms so badly,” Sabatini said in a Tuesday post on X. “We’ve never seen an administration crash & burn in its first year so badly—for no reason other than to appease donors and special interests.”
The White House responded by highlighting administrative actions taken to reform the program. Officials pointed to a September announcement requiring companies to pay a $100,000 annual fee when seeking H-1B visas, Fox News reported.
The administration also referenced the Department of Labor’s launch of Project Firewall in September, designed to prevent employer abuse of the visa process.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers addressed the controversy in a Wednesday statement to Fox. “The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H1-B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations and not low wage workers that will displace Americans,” Rogers said.
This controversy carries historical weight within Trump’s political base, particularly following the president’s December 2024 interview with the New York Post where he called H-1B visas a “great program” and stated he’s a “believer in H-1B.”
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who came from South Africa and used an H-1B visa himself, declared in December he would “go to war” on the issue, Resist the Mainstream previously reported.
“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,” Musk said in a December 2024 post on X.
