The choice of a policy adviser for artificial intelligence (AI) in the next Trump administration has sparked widespread debate online over the H-1B visa program, which conservatives are calling out as “abusive” and designed precisely to undercut wages of white-collar Americans.
“Sriram Krishnan will serve as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,” President-elect Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this week:
Working closely with David Sacks, Sriram will focus on ensuring continued American leadership in A.I., and help shape and coordinate A.I. policy across Government, including working with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sriram started his career at Microsoft as a founding member of Windows Azure. [Emphasis added]
Krishnan’s appointment has sparked a widespread online debate over the H-1B visa program and employment-based green cards.
For years, Breitbart News has chronicled the abuses against white-collar American professionals as a result of the H-1B visa program. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News.
One such major effort that Krishnan has backed is a green card giveaway, primarily to Indian nationals, where country caps for employment-based green cards would be eliminated.
As a result, tech corporations would be massively rewarded for having imported mostly Indian nationals on H-1B visas to take white-collar American jobs. The push to end country caps has failed over and over again in Congress.
Last month, in response to billionaire Elon Musk’s X post regarding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Krishnan replied that “anything to remove country caps for green cards / unlock skilled immigration would be huge.”
In a clip from Krishnan’s podcast, he is seen laughing as a guest suggests that Indian nationals ought to “just get married to a U.S. citizen, just make that happen” to secure green cards.
Vivek Ramaswamy chimed in on the debate, suggesting that American companies like hiring foreign visa workers over college-educated Americans because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long…”
In March Ramaswamy appeared on Krishnan’s podcast where he said legal immigration ought to center on filling “labor gaps” and “skills gaps.”
“The sole objective of U.S. immigration policy should be to advance the interests of the U.S. citizens who are already here … against that backdrop, what immigration policy makes sense?” Ramaswamy said:
Great. Now, it becomes easy to implement — Where do we have labor gaps? Where do we have skills gaps? Where do we have people who can add to the productivity of the United States? People who bring a civic love of this country combined with skills and a work ethic and perhaps money and investment to be able to make that happen? That, I think, sets us up for a more rational path here. [Emphasis added]
Conservatives and other dissenters online have fought back on the issue for days now.
“The H-1B visa program is loved by tech companies because it helps hold down salaries of ultra high paid engineering jobs and foreign workers on these visas are way less likely to unionize or agitate for better work conditions,” journalist Lee Fang posted. “Both parties enable the abuse of the program.”
Mike Cernovich and others have used online databases to debunk claims that the H-1B visa program brings only the “best and brightest” of geniuses to the United States to take jobs:
Lmfao. Man. I had no idea how badly H-1B was being abused. Fucking entry level accountant, REALLY??? https://t.co/aSoTIIVr6r
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 26, 2024
We keep getting told that H-1B is essential for .1% talent brainiac superstars that we absolutely can't live without.
— Swig 🇺🇸 (@OldRowSwig) December 27, 2024
The reality of how the program is abused is the exact opposite. Cooks, Dog Trainers, Massage Therapists, Laborers. Some making as low as $22,000 a year.… pic.twitter.com/dO5XvDXTnj
Keep these headlines in mind when they tell you "high-skilled" immigration is all about hiring the top 0.1% to make America an innovation superpower. pic.twitter.com/uLcDNfKWd6
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 27, 2024
Hitting the hornets nest was a mistake.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 27, 2024
Everyone is learning how to search the H-1B databases and let’s say it’s a red pill for sure. https://t.co/9CsXjz158q
Approved H-1B beneficiaries by age and gender
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 27, 2024
*The median age of approved H-1B beneficiaries in 2023 was 33 years old. pic.twitter.com/aT6wB40Gh3
Major occupational groups of approved H-1B beneficiaries
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 27, 2024
*Computer-related occupations were the largest major occupational category, accounting for 65% of all beneficiaries. pic.twitter.com/XuL7dyWmdx
These unsubstantiated assertions about US students require scrutiny
— Ron Hira (@RonHira) December 26, 2024
US students are interested in & capable of engineering and computer science
BS degrees 90%+ US citizens & permanent residents
Graduating record numbers of US Engr & CS = far more than tech labor market absorbs https://t.co/EOc6i6rIac pic.twitter.com/cW8wKwL5y7
There are four *prevailing wage levels* for H-1B visa sponsorship, with two set well below the median wage, allowing employers to wage arbitrage and get discounted workers. 60% of H-1Bs certified by @USDOL fall into these lower wage levels according to research done by… https://t.co/yri5R12XGu pic.twitter.com/rq6POkr7tO
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) December 26, 2024
According to Census Bureau data, the US has more than 2x as many American workers with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs. And many of the STEM jobs that do exist go to foreigners, because our immigration system allows them to legally be paid less.
— Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) December 26, 2024
But sure, it’s the tv shows. https://t.co/BW1Qegib6P
American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can't. Tech wants indentured servants, not "high-skilled" workers. https://t.co/MRQc0zLjaT
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 26, 2024
Don't mistake the H-1B visa discussion for a ragebait culture war distraction or trolling. It gets to the heart of Trump's mandate, which is to restore dignity to working-class Americans. He needs to sideline the people in his orbit actively undermining that goal by…
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) December 27, 2024
Corporations love H-1B visas because they allow the company to pay below market wages AND control the foreigners they hire, because the employers, not the workers, own the visas—if a newly imported foreigner leaves the sponsoring company, he has to leave the country.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 27, 2024
America’s immigration policies have been good for foreigners who want to come to America. But they have been bad for American workers. That must change.
— Katie Britt (@KatieBrittforAL) December 26, 2024
We need to overhaul programs that depress wages and rob American workers of job opportunities. https://t.co/6uV3AyaIOA
That means top talent in smaller countries like Canada, Israel, Sweden, New Zealand, El Salvador, or South Africa are behind every Indian and Chinese applicant.
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) December 26, 2024
It’s actually anti-diversity, it hurts our ability to get a wide array of talent.
Corporations have exploited the H-1B Visa program to replace Americans with cheaper foreign workers.
— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) December 26, 2024
Watch this fired Disney employee break down in tears as he describes having to train his foreign replacement.
This is heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/FSjS5ASjtu
The system we've constructed with H-1B visas, whether we like it or not, incentivizes people to come here and serve as essentially indentured servants for Big Tech, taking on the tough, grueling jobs that few here in America are excited to perform at the current suppressed…
— Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) December 27, 2024
As part of the online debate, many X users are reposting a Breitbart News interview with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance from 2022 when he was running for the open U.S. Senate seat for Ohio.
In the interview, Vance made clear that Congress ought to prioritize overhauling the H-1B visa program to prevent corporations from enacting an outsourcing-offshoring scheme where Americans are laid off, forced to train their foreign replacements, and then those jobs eventually sent to countries like India altogether.
“Generally speaking, a lot of the H-1B abuse we see is in the interests of the people hiring the [foreign visa] worker, who can undercut the wages of Americans, but is it in the interest of the 700 Ohioans who lost their jobs? Absolutely not,” Vance told Breitbart News at the time.
“This is one of these issues where you actually need public policy to solve this problem because they’re taking advantage of a visa system that’s meant to ensure that American companies have the workers that they need — it’s not meant to undercut the wages of American workers in this country,” Vance said. “Unfortunately, that’s what the H-1B visa is just being used to do right now.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at