Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unleashed a scathing rebuke of Elon Musk’s support for H-1B visa workers in a statement posted to the billionaire’s social media platform on Thursday.
Sanders accused Musk of supporting the program not to hire “the best and the brightest” but instead to “replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad.”
Musk and President-elect Donald Trump have voiced their support for the H-1B visa program, which brings skilled immigrants to the United States. Some right-wing commentators have blasted the program for taking away American jobs.
“Elon Musk is wrong,” Sanders wrote on X. “The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad. The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”
Sanders then explained in his statement that “millions of Americans with advanced degrees” don’t have employment and cited data that 33% of new information technology jobs are filled by “guest workers.”
The Vermont progressive personally attacked Musk for laying off 7,500 American workers from Tesla “while being approved to employ thousands of H-1B guest workers.” The senator blasted the visa program as a whole, noting that workers from outside of the United States are employed as “dog trainers” and “massage therapists.”
“Let’s be clear,” Sanders said. “To the extent that there may be labor shortages in our country in some highly specialized areas that need to be filled by employees from abroad through the H-1B program, we must utilize this program as a very short-term and temporary approach.”
He added that guest worker fees that large corporations pay must be increased to fund scholarships, apprenticeships, and job training opportunities for American workers. Sanders believes the minimum wage for such workers should be increased, they should be allowed to easily switch jobs, and that corporations should look toward American workers first when hiring.
“Bottom line,” he said. “It should never be cheaper for a corporation to hire a guest worker from overseas than an American worker.”
Sanders was responding to Musk’s past comments overwhelmingly favoring the program. “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk wrote on X on Christmas. “If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be.”
Those comments drew instant backlash from the MAGA anti-immigration right, including commentator Nick Fuentes. Fuentes, an unlikely ally for the left-wing Sanders, supported his comments on Thursday.
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“Bernie Sanders is right,” Fuentes said on X. “Elon and Trump are wrong.”
Though Sanders is progressive, he’s gone against the grain of the Democratic Party numerous times.