Washington: US President Donald Trump has once again spoken out in favour of legal immigration, insisting that foreign workers are essential to train Americans in advanced technology sectors despite growing calls within his party to abolish the H-1B visa programme.
Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington on Wednesday, Trump said large-scale projects such as semiconductor plants cannot rely solely on domestic labour.
“You can't come in, open up a massive computer chip factory for billions and billions of dollars like it’s being done in Arizona and think you're going to hire people from often unemployment line to run it. They're going to have to bring thousands of people with them. I am going to welcome those people,” he said.
Trump argued that overseas workers would help “teach our people” to manufacture chips and other advanced products, acknowledging that his stance may draw criticism from conservative allies.
“I may take little heat. I always take a little heat from my people. The people that love me and the people that I love. They happen to be toward the right…sometimes they are way right…I love my conservative friends. I love MAGA. But this is MAGA, and those people are going to teach our people how to make computer chips,” he added.
Earlier this week, Trump had also backed the H-1B visa programme, stressing that foreign talent is needed to rebuild America’s chip-making industry, which he said was “foolishly we lost that business to Taiwan.” In a recent interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, he dismissed claims that the US already has sufficient talent, responding bluntly: “No, you don’t.”
His remarks have reignited debate among Republicans, with figures such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene vowing to introduce legislation to ban H-1B visas outside the medical sector. Congressman Andy Ogles also called for an outright end to the programme.
The White House has sought to balance Trump’s support for skilled immigration with measures to curb abuse of the system. Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told IANS that a proposed $100,000 application fee for new H-1B visas would be “significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labour.”
The visa policy faces mounting opposition in Congress and legal challenges, including lawsuits filed by the US Chamber of Commerce. India-born professionals continue to dominate approvals, accounting for more than 70 per cent of H-1B visas granted in 2024.
(Inputs from IANS)