President Donald Trump’s recent remarks on H-1B visas have sparked fresh debate within his own “Make America Great Again” base, after he appeared to dial back his hardline immigration stance.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said the United States is open to “foreign talent” who contribute to specialized sectors, a comment that many supporters saw as a surprising shift from his earlier “America First” rhetoric.
“I agree, but you also have to bring this talent,” Trump said when asked if reforming the H-1B visa program remains a key issue. He emphasized that while boosting wages for American workers is essential, the country cannot depend entirely on the long-term unemployed to fill advanced positions in sectors like manufacturing and defense. When pressed with the argument that the U.S. already has sufficient homegrown talent and does not need to fill industries with foreign professionals, Trump pushed back firmly, rejecting that claim outright.
“You don’t have certain talents… And people have to learn, you can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, I’m going to put you into a factory. We’re going to make missiles,” Trump said.
READ: Trump administration revokes 80,000 visas in immigration crackdown (
Trump’s remarks quickly ignited backlash among his core MAGA supporters, many of whom took to social media to voice their anger and disappointment. On X, several users accused the president of abandoning the “America First” agenda and caving to corporate interests by favoring foreign labor over U.S. workers. As one user wrote on X, “Thanks for doing your job. It’s too bad POTUS turned his back on the American people and sold us out to foreigners and big corporations.”
“Maybe POTUS doesn’t know we have engineers and techies who are on that unemployment line, or far under employed because the companies who hire H1Bs don’t advertise to Americans. Ignorance is not becoming in a president,” another user wrote.
Echoing the same stance, another user stated, expressing disappointment, stated, “When a president loses faith in his own people, he forfeits the nation’s soul. To distrust your citizens while flooding the country with 600,000 students from a rival power isn’t leadership—it’s betrayal. A nation without trust cannot stand.”
“Horrific, insulting answer to the hundreds of thousands of displaced workers in tech and beyond. Meanwhile new grads sit in the unemployment line so someone from mostly 1 other country can take their place,” another user wrote. While another shot off a response to the unveiling of Trump’s real face, “I don’t know who you are lady, but you just absolutely permanently destroyed what remained of the positive image that I, and many others, had of Trump. Thanks for revealing who he really is.”
On the other hand, Indian American conservative commentator and longtime Trump supporter Dinesh D’Souza defended the president’s latest comments on H-1B visas, urging fellow Republicans to look beyond the outrage.
READ: ‘We need foreign talent’: Trump’s H-1B comments lift Indian tech shares (November 12, 2025)
D’Souza took aim at critics who accused Trump of turning his back on American workers, dismissing their outrage as misplaced. He mocked those claiming the president had “betrayed Americans” by softening his H-1B stance, arguing that such critics were contradicting themselves. “Many people: Our education system sucks! It’s all indoctrination, no real learning. Standards have plummeted. The same people: Is Trump seriously saying our graduates are not the best in the world and can do any job you can think of? Let’s at least get our stories straight,” D’Souza wrote on the social media.
As the debate over Trump’s H-1B comments continues to split opinion within conservative circles, the episode underscores how immigration remains one of the most polarizing issues in American politics. For Trump, the challenge now lies in balancing his nationalist rhetoric with the economic realities of a globalized labor market, one where innovation often depends on international talent.