Far-right political activist Laura Loomer has launched a fierce attack against the H1B visa program. Loomer, who just a day before stirred controversy over the recent appointment of Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-origin tech executive, as an AI advisor for Donald Trump, took to social media to voice her strong opposition to the continued use and expansion of H1B visas.
She’s openly opposed to extending H1B visas, which allow highly skilled workers, particularly from countries like India to work in the U.S. Loomer argues that this goes against what she sees as the “America First” agenda, which was championed by Donald Trump.
It all began with a tweet from an Indian-origin tech entrepreneur, who passionately defended the importance of high-skilled immigration to the U.S. In a post on Elon Musk’s X platform, Sidharth made the case that high-skilled immigrants are essential for America’s global leadership.
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“Anyone opposing high-skilled immigration is fundamentally anti-American,” he tweeted. “This nation was built by immigrants who drove innovation, from Albert Einstein revolutionizing science to Sergey Brin reshaping technology. High-skilled immigrants create jobs, fuel economic growth, and ensure America stays ahead globally.”
Loomer, who has consistently advocated for a reduction in H1B visas and opposed any expansion of immigration programs, fired back with, “Our country was built by white Europeans, actually. Not third-world invaders from India.” She continued to voice her disdain for high-skilled immigration, accusing tech entrepreneurs like Sidharth of exploiting the American system for cheap labour.
The Indian-origin techie, however, wasn’t backing down. He responded with a blistering comment aimed directly at Loomer’s inflammatory rhetoric. “Sorry, your racist a** got kicked out by Trump. I’d like you to say this to @VivekGRamaswamy or @JDVance and his wife,” he tweeted, referring to the presidential candidate and Ohio senator, both of whom are proponents of high-skilled immigration.
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He called out Loomer for her lack of nuance in discussing immigration policy, saying, “Your intentions are right but because you run your mouth and make stupid racist comments, it backfires for you.” He then reminded Loomer of her previous controversial remarks, such as her criticism of the White House smelling like Indian food. “You don’t learn Laura,” Sidharth tweeted.
Later, In a tweet Loomer doubled down on her beliefs, dismissing any accusations of racism. “I voted for a reduction in H1B visas, not an extension. If India is such a high-skilled society, why does it look like this?” She shared a picture possibly from the country’s riverside, featuring people bathing and mess everywhere.
“The tech billionaires don’t get to just walk inside Mar a Lago and stroke their massive checkbooks and rewrite our immigration policy so they can have unlimited slave laborers from India and China who never assimilated,” she tweeted. “I don’t care about being called “racist” by people who don’t have the best interest of the American worker in mind.”
The comment section was appalled by Loomer’s blanket generalisations about immigrants from India. Many responded by calling out Loomer’s use of the term “cheap labour” and accusing her of promoting xenophobic rhetoric.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended Sriram Krishnan’s views on immigration and green card caps by criticizing the controversy surrounding them. “The ‘fixed pie’ fallacy is at the heart of much wrong-headed economic thinking. There is essentially infinite potential for job and company creation. Think of all the things that didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago!” Elon Musk wrote on X hours after Loomer stirred controversy on X calling Krishnan’s immigration policies anti-MAGA.
Krishnan earlier tweeted, “Anything to remove country caps for green cards/unlock skilled immigration would be huge.”
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