In a shift from his earlier hardline immigration rhetoric, President Donald Trump signaled a more pragmatic approach, acknowledging the need for foreign professionals in specialized sectors.
Speaking on workforce challenges, Trump noted that certain high-skill roles, cannot be easily filled by long-term unemployed Americans without significant retraining. He emphasized that the U.S. must continue to attract qualified foreign talent to maintain its competitive edge and national security capabilities.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, where he was asked whether his administration intended to scale back or deprioritize the H-1B visa program. Trump replied, “You do have to bring in talent.”
When Ingraham remarked, “We have plenty of talent,” Trump immediately disagreed, responding, “No, you don’t.”
“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.
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Trump’s comments come at a time when his administration has taken an increasingly tough stance on the H-1B visa program as part of its broader immigration crackdown. In September, the president issued a proclamation introducing a steep $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications. In October, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the crackdown a step further, directing the state’s Board of Governors to phase out the use of H-1B visas at public universities. DeSantis argued that roles currently occupied by visa holders should instead be offered to qualified Florida residents.
Earlier this month, a senior State Department official revealed that since Trump took office on January 20, the administration has revoked roughly 80,000 non-immigrant visas, citing offenses such as DUI, assault, and theft.
The U.S. Department of Labor has also intensified its scrutiny of the H-1B visa system, launching at least 175 investigations into alleged misuse. The effort, known as “Project Firewall,” aims to identify companies accused of exploiting loopholes in the program, which enables American businesses to hire highly skilled foreign professionals in fields such as information technology, engineering, and healthcare.
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Criticizing the continued reliance on foreign hires, DeSantis questioned the rationale behind it, saying, “Why are we bringing people in to assess our accreditation on an H-1B visa? We can’t do that with our own people?” He went on to describe the practice as a form of “cheap labor” and urged university leaders to reevaluate their recruitment policies.
Trump’s remarks during the Fox interview were met with a positive response from investors, as they signaled a potentially softer stance toward skilled immigration. The reaction was especially notable given that major Indian IT firms, including Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and HCL Technologies depend heavily on the H-1B visa program to send engineers to work on U.S. client projects, which remain their largest source of revenue.
Indian IT shares rallied on Wednesday after President Trump’s comments hinting at continued demand for skilled foreign professionals. The optimism drove Tech Mahindra up by 3.24%, followed by gains in Mphasis (2.83%), LTIMindtree (2.63%), TCS (2.26%), and Infosys (1.25%), according to Economic Times. The Nifty IT index climbed 1.83%, making it the top-performing sectoral index of the day.