Elon Musk combats anti-immigration sentiment in posts decrying ‘dire shortage’ of tech talent
Rep. Bill Huizenga discusses DOGE’s influence on Congress and Elon Musk’s role at Varney & Co. in the Trump White House.
Billionaire businessman and recently appointed government spending cut Elon Musk called for increased immigration of high-skilled foreign workers to the US in several social media posts fighting immigration restrictions.
In a post on X, Musk decried America’s “persistent shortage of great engineering talent,” calling it a “fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” X businessman and influencer Mario Naufal quoted Musk’s post as saying that only the US semiconductor industry could 2032 will need more than 160,000 engineers, citing McKinsey & Company.
“No, we need more than double that number yesterday,” Musk replied. “There are very few super talented engineers and super motivated people in the US.”
Musk then drew an analogy between the U.S. economy and a professional sports team: “If you want your TEAM to win championships, you have to recruit top talent wherever they are,” he wrote.
ELON MUSK OPERATES ‘WRONG ECONOMIC THINKING,’ SAYS ‘LIMITLESS POTENTIAL’ FOR JOB CREATION.
SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during a PAC of America town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/Getty Images)
His argument drew a backlash from immigration restrictions, who responded that tech companies should seek the best talent from America’s 330 million people, rather than calling for more foreign workers to immigrate to the United States.
“Your understanding of the situation is upside down and backwards,” Musk said in response to a user who demanded to know why he was denying jobs to Americans.
“Of course, my companies and I would prefer to hire Americans, and we do because it’s so much easier than going through the incredibly painful and slow work visa process.
“However, there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America,” Musk explained.
ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY SHARE DOGE GOALS
Elon Musk took a photo with the newly elected President Donald Trump in Florida. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“If you force the best talent in the world to play for the other side, America WILL LOSE. End of story,” Musk said.
His comments come after some immigration hardliners spoke out against it Trump’s appointment as president-elect Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan, an artificial intelligence (AI) adviser to the incoming administration, had previously urged Musk, who is close to Trump and will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to persuade the president to remove foreign-born green card caps. for highly qualified workers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), center, hosts Elon Musk, left, with his son X Æ A-Xii, walking with Vivek Ramaswamy, right, of the heads of the newly created U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. at the Capitol on December 5, 2024 in Washington (Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images / IMAGN)
“Something to remove country caps for green cards or open up skilled immigration would be huge,” Krishnan wrote on X. In another post, Krishnan added: “simple logic. we need the best no matter where they were born (another weird quirk – the country cap is where you were born, even citizenship).
David Sachs, Trump’s pick for White House AI and cryptocurrency czarsupported Krishnan’s view in an X post this week.
CREATE A FOX BUSINESS WITH A QUICK CLICK HERE!
“Sriram still supports skills-based green card criteria without making the program unlimited. In fact, he wants to make the program entirely merit-based,” Sacks wrote in part of his post.
“It makes sense,” answered Musk.
FOX Business’ Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
English