Skilled immigrants needed in US: Trump's stance triggers MAGA backlash

US President Donald Trump said companies building advanced factories must be allowed to bring foreign experts

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will “welcome” skilled immigrants to help American workers learn how to build advanced products such as chips and missiles, even if the stance angers parts of his political base that favour tougher immigration rules.

 

Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum, attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump said the United States is seeing a rush of new factories, including “extremely complex” plants that will shape future growth.

 

He said the products these factories are expected to make—from telephones and computers to missiles, require expertise that American workers will need time to acquire. That, he argued, means companies must be allowed to bring in skilled workers from abroad.

 

“These are complicated things we’re making,” he said. “And I may take a little heat. I always take a little heat from my people… they happen to be toward the right of centre, sometimes they are way right.”

 

Trump said investors should feel confident that they will be allowed to bring the staff required to get new facilities running. “We want those people to teach our people how to make computer chips and how to make other things,” he said. “They’re going to have to bring thousands of people with them, and I’m going to welcome those people.”

 

Why does Trump think foreign experts are needed?

 

The President said he respected those who oppose such moves, describing them as “really, really smart” and “unbelievable patriots”, but insisted they do not realise that American workers need training before they can handle such roles.

 

“This is something they’ve never done,” he said. “We’re not going to be successful if we don’t allow people that invest billions of dollars in plants and equipment to bring a lot of their people from their country to get that plant open, operating and working. I’m sorry.”

 

He added with a laugh that he expected his comments to dent his support. “My poll numbers just went down, but with smart people, they’ve gone way up. And I mean that.” Trump then added, “I love MAGA, but this is MAGA.”

 

He assured companies at the event that they would receive help in bringing expert workers. “You’re going to teach our people how to do it, and our people are going to be just as good as your people ever were in not such a long period of time,” he said. 

 

What’s the debate over skilled visas?

 

US companies rely heavily on programmes such as the H-1B and L1 visas to bring in foreign workers for specialist roles. Trump’s remarks come even as his administration continues its aggressive stance against illegal immigration and as some of his supporters push for tighter controls on the H-1B system.

 

Trump pointed to the September immigration raid at Hyundai’s battery plant in Georgia, where hundreds of workers were detained.

 

“Batteries are very dangerous to make. They’re complex, much more complex than people understand,” he said. “They spent a billion dollars to build a factory, and they were told to get out. And I said, ‘Stop it. Don’t be stupid.’ And we worked it out, and now they’re teaching our people how to do it.”

 

The President has recently defended the H-1B programme, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the United States still needs certain specialist skills that are not available domestically. “I agree but you also do have to bring in talent,” he said.

 

When Ingraham replied that America already has “plenty of talent”, Trump responded, “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.’” 

 

Why is Congresswoman Greene pushing to end the H-1B programme?

 

The President’s comments have clashed with the stance of some Republican lawmakers. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene last week said she would introduce a bill to end “the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H1B programme”.

 

She accused technology firms, AI companies and hospitals of using the visa to “cut out our own people”. “My bill ELIMINATES the corrupt H-1B program and puts AMERICANS FIRST again in tech, healthcare, engineering, manufacturing, and every industry that keeps this country running!!” she wrote on X.

 

On Thursday, hours after Trump again backed skilled immigration, Greene repeated her position. “I believe in the American people,” she said. “Their talent, their intelligence, their hard work ethic, and their goodness. Americans come first and are the only workers that we should fight for.”