Elon Musk vows ‘war’ over H-1B visas in rift with Trump supporters

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, vowed to go to “war” to defend the H-1B visa program for foreign technology workers late Friday amid a dispute between longtime supporters of President-elect Donald Trump and his recently acquired supporters from the technological industry.

In a post on social media platform X, Musk said, “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that have made America strong is H1B.”

“I will go to war over this issue that you cannot possibly understand,” he added.

Musk, a naturalized American citizen born in South Africa, holds an H-1B visa, and his electric car company Tesla has received 724 visas this year. H-1B visas are usually for three-year periods, although holders can extend them or apply for green cards.

Musk’s tweet was aimed at Trump supporters and immigration hardliners who have increasingly pushed to end the H-1B visa program amid a heated debate over immigration and the place of skilled immigrants and foreign workers brought into the country on work visas.

Trump has been silent on the issue so far. The Trump transition did not respond to a request for comment on Musk’s tweets and the H-1B visa debate.

In the past, Trump has expressed a willingness to provide more work visas to skilled workers. He also promised to deport all immigrants who are in the US illegally, impose tariffs to help create more jobs for American citizens and severely limit immigration.

The release highlights how tech leaders like Musk — who has taken on an important role in the presidential transition, advising on key personnel and policy areas — are now drawing attention from their base.

The U.S. technology industry relies on the government’s H-1B visa program to hire skilled foreign workers to help run its companies, a workforce that critics say depresses wages for American citizens.

The row was sparked this week by far-right activists who criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American venture capitalist, as an artificial intelligence adviser, saying he would influence the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

On Friday, Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump confidant, criticized the “big tech oligarchs” for supporting the H-1B program and described immigration as a threat to Western civilization.

In response, Musk and many other tech billionaires have drawn a line between what they consider legal immigration and illegal immigration.

Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars helping Trump get elected president in November. He’s been posting regularly this week about the lack of homegrown talent to fill all the necessary positions at US tech companies.