US President Donald Trump on Tuesday staunchly defended the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers, insisting America lacks domestic talent for specialised roles and cannot swiftly retrain its unemployed for high-tech tasks like missile production, even as he imposes steep new fees to curb potential abuse.
In a Fox News interview, Trump highlighted the program’s necessity despite acknowledging it could suppress wages, pointing to a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a Hyundai facility in Georgia where hundreds of South Korean contractors — experts in complex battery manufacturing — were detained and deported.
“We don’t have the people with certain talents,” Trump said, emphasising the gap in expertise for niche industries. He added: “You can’t take somebody who’s unemployed and say, ‘We’re gonna train you to make missiles.’ It doesn’t work that way.”
The president referenced the September operation, which he opposed during a South Korea visit, noting the workers were in the “early stages” of training locals for a process he described as “very complicated” and “dangerous.”
Trump’s stance aligns with his September executive action slapping a $100,000 application fee on H-1B visas, part of broader immigration curbs aimed at prioritising American hires while allowing three-year stays renewable for another three.
Economists argue the scheme bolsters US competitiveness and job creation, though critics decry it for undercutting local wages.
The comments also touched on education, with Trump praising Chinese students in US universities as “the best and the brightest,” contrasting them favourably with French counterparts in a nod to global talent flows.
