The H-1B program helps highly skilled foreigners find work in the country. It has become a flashpoint issue on the far right.

President-elect Donald Trump has weighed in on the debate that roiled his MAGA movement and split them in recent weeks: skilled immigration. Department of Government Efficiency nominees Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk have come under heavy fire for their support of H-1B visas in recent days from the anti-immigration right.

The backlash escalated Thursday, when Vivek Ramaswamy, in a post on X, criticized an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence.”