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In what might be the face-palm moment of his second term, Donald Trump just said America needs immigrants, and that American workers are not skilled, specifically those “in unemployment lines.”
Yes, that's right, after more than half a decade of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and a Gestapo-like force in ICE, quite literally disappearing legal immigrants, Donald Trump just told American workers they aren't enough to get the job done.
In an interview with FOX News that aired on Tuesday, Donald Trump said that the United States doesn't have workers with “certain talents,” and offered his support for the H1-B skilled worker visa program.
Comments on Fox
Trump was pressed by Fox's Laura Ingraham on whether he would reduce the H1-B program, and Trump responded with “you also do have to bring in talent.”
Ingraham tried insisting that the United States had talented workers, but Trump shut her down.
“No, you don't, 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 where we're going to make missiles.'”
The president then strangely brought up the Hyundai plant fiasco that resulted in hundreds of legal South Korean workers being traumatically deported.
“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out — they had people from South Korea that made batteries all their life. You know, making batteries is very complicated. It's not an easy thing. Very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems. 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.”
Why the president would want to bring up an incident that could have only arisen due to administrative incompetence clearly surprised Ingraham, two weeks ago, Trump insisted that he was “very much opposed” to the raid on the Hyundai factory, leading many to wonder why it then happened.
H1-B Visa
In September, Trump signed an executive order to install a $100,000 application fee on the H1-B in an attempt to limit the number of people able to take advantage.
It was another example in a long line of orders cracking down on immigration, in this case, allowing the government control over the intake.
The H1-B is a three-year visa for skilled workers. It can be renewed once, with workers receiving an additional three years. The $100,000 fee allows Trump to control the intake of workers. By partnering with corporations and labour companies, Trump can now personally staff projects using international skilled workers while hindering individuals from successfully applying.
The vast majority of H1-B recipients are skilled workers from India.
MAGA response
The comments have struck Republican politicians with confusion. On the one hand, Trump is right, the U.S. does need international skilled workers. And by taking a looser stance on immigration, the GOP can start to appeal to the moderates. The problem? Anti-immigration has been the GOP's identity for so long that the party is rudderless without it.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has been the only major name to comment. Greene has a mixed bag when it comes to her resume with Trump. She was one of his staunchest supporters in the early years, but has been separated from DJT on the Epstein issue and the government shutdown.
Greene tweeted that “I believe you are good, talented, creative, intelligent, hard working, and want to achieve, I am solidly against you being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs.”
She chose the third option, to come out against Trump, and reiterate right-wing talking points.
Some say this could be a ‘gotcha' moment for Trump and his policies, but it's more than likely the news cycle will move on before his voter base lets this sink in.
