‘I’m going to welcome thousands of people’: Trump defends H-1B as MAGA accuses him of betraying ‘America First’

US President Donald Trump defended the use of skilled foreign workers, H1-B visas at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington on Wednesday, saying they are essential to getting large technology projects up and running and that he would “welcome those people”, a stance that was not appreciated by the MAGA base.Speaking at the event, Trump pointed to a planned computer chip factory in Arizona as an example, arguing it was unrealistic to expect employers to hire from the unemployment line for highly technical roles. He said, “You can’t come in, open a massive computer chip factory for billions and billions of dollars like is being done in Arizona, and think you’re gonna hire people off an unemployment line to run it. They’re gonna have to bring thousands of people with them and I’m gonna welcome those people. I love my conservative friends, I love MAGA, but this is MAGA.”The president’s comments follow weeks of debate inside conservative circles after he told Fox News that the United States lacks talent for certain specialist industries and needs to bring in skilled workers to train American labour. At the forum he repeated that message, saying foreign experts will teach Americans to operate advanced factories and that this is in the national interest.Hardline MAGA supporters accused Trump of abandoning his America First promise by appearing to side with corporate interests and foreign labour. While some Republicans had the GOP leader’s back.Congresswoman and former Trumo loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted POTUS’s H-1B remarks, saying American students were being “pushed aside for foreign tech workers”, while right-wing political activist Laura Loomer claimed the president was being steered into “globalist policy”. Nick Fuentes called the stance a “betrayal of the movement”, arguing that MAGA voters never asked for more imported labour. Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a softer line, saying the US still needs top-tier engineers for chip factories but urged companies to train Americans instead of relying on “permanent visa pipelines”. Indian-origin MAGA ally Dinesh D’Souza defended Trump as “pragmatic”, and Vivek Ramaswamy argued that specialised roles can’t be filled overnight.Earlier in September, Trump had floated a $100,000 price tag for a national “talent challenge,” arguing that America would need to invest heavily to compete with China and rebuild critical industries. That message now sits awkwardly beside his defence of H-1B visas.