President Donald Trump seems to have altered his stance on the strictness of one of his immigration policies, emphasizing the significance of H-1B visas for skilled workers just a few months after implementing significant obstacles designed to decrease the quantity of these visas issued by American businesses.
TL;DR
- Former President Trump, who previously added a $100,000 fee to H-1B visas, now says the U.S. needs skilled foreign workers.
- Trump acknowledged the U.S. labor market has deficiencies in crucial sectors and that foreign talent is needed for complex jobs.
- Experts warn Trump's immigration policies could negatively impact the U.S. labor force and slow GDP growth significantly.
- ICE raids on a Hyundai plant detained South Korean workers with advanced battery manufacturing experience, hindering factory opening.
In a Sunday interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Trump reiterated his belief that admitting numerous foreign workers wouldn't allow for higher pay for American employees. However, he also acknowledged that the U.S. Labor market has deficiencies in crucial sectors.
“You don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn,” he said. “You can’t just say a country is coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant and take people off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years and they’re going to start making their missiles. It doesn’t work that way.”
In September, the White House imposed a $100,000 one-time fee on H1-B visas, meant for high-skilled workers, many of whom enter the tech sector. Experts, such as Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan, said the move would “kneecap” startups and other smaller businesses unable to brush off the steep fee. A 2020 National Bureau of Economic Research study found startups with higher H-1B visa rates were more likely to achieve an IPO or acquisition, as well as secure top funding and patents.
Approximately 400,000 H-1B visas received approval during fiscal year 2024, a twofold increase compared to fiscal year 2020. Prominent technology firms, including such as Elon Musk, have in the past voiced strong backing for these visas (bypassing the $100,000 charge) as a means to draw top-tier talent to American businesses.
When Trump enacted the proclamation for the H-1B visa fee, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick contended that distributing a large number of these visas, which necessitate a bachelor's degree and have typically been allocated through a lottery system, would not be economically advantageous for The United States.
“If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans.” Lutnick told reporters. “If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in…then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.”
Experts have cautioned that the Trump administration's stricter immigration enforcement could lead to negative net migration, which is projected to pummel the U.S. Labor force and diminish the purchasing power of Americans, could both negatively impact U.S. Economic expansion. A report from The National Foundation for American Policy study released in the previous month indicated that Trump's immigration measures would decrease the American labor force by approximately 15.7 million individuals and slow GDP growth by a third in the coming ten years.
The White House did not immediately respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
Trump on the Georgia Hyundai plant ICE raid
Trump also hinted to Ingraham that he has not always made the right calls in eradicating foreign workers. The proclamation to hike H-1B fees came only weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents—who received a $30 billion bump in funding for arrests and deportations from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”—raided a Hyundai manufacturing plant in Georgia, detaining 475 workers, most of whom were from South Korea, where the company is headquartered. ICE agents alleged the South Korean workers overstayed their visas or had permits that did not grant them permissions for manual labor.
Shortly after the raid, Hyundai CEO José Muñoz said the ICE raids set back the factory opening by two or three months. The auto company announced earlier this year it would invest $26 billion in U.S. Manufacturing.
In the Sunday interview, Trump reiterated the fears of scaring off foreign workers that he had expressed shortly after the raid, saying ICE raided the facility in effort to get rid of undocumented workers, but that the factory employees from South Korea had advanced experience in making the batteries to power the Hyundai electric vehicles.
“You know, making batteries is very complicated. It’s not an easy thing. Very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems,” Trump said. “They had like 500 or 600 people, early stages, to make batteries and to teach people how to do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You’re going to need that, Laura.”