To work towards fulfilling their promise of MAGA (Make America Great Again), Donald Trump and his supporters need to ask: What made America great in the first place? This question has climbed centrestage as, even before the president-elect occupies the White House, cracks are showing in the social coalition Trump built to sweep the 2024 elections. The controversy began earlier this month with the appointment of Chennai-born Sriram Krishnan as senior advisor on artificial intelligence to the forthcoming Trump White House. In a tweet in November, Krishnan said, “Anything to remove country caps for green cards/ unlock skilled immigration would be huge.” His comments outraged some in Trump’s more right-wing base, whose maximalist position on immigration often crosses into xenophobia. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both entrepreneurs, came out strongly in support of H-1B visas, with Musk saying that he would “go to war”, if needed, on the issue. Trump finally came down on the side of skilled immigrants and their prospective employers on December 29, stating that he has “been a great believer in the programme”.
The reality of America’s political economy appears to be bumping up against the rhetoric of the campaign trail. Immigration was among the most contentious issues in the presidential election — and Trump’s strong stance against illegal migrants arguably helped him sweep it. The H-1B visa regime is meant to, and does, provide avenues for companies to bring in skilled labour at the top of the US’s value chain. Indian tech workers and other white-collar workers in Silicon Valley and beyond form a significant chunk — 72 per cent between 2022-23 — of this category. Trump’s stand on legal migration has oscillated: In his first term, he imposed restrictions on H-1B visas in what appeared to be a move to mollify the right-of-right extreme of the Republican party. More recently, during the 2024 campaign, he said that “if you graduate from a US college, you should automatically get a green card with your diploma”. The latter has sound economic logic behind it: To keep talent trained in the US within the country. In a competitive global landscape, the US needs the best minds to stay ahead.
The backlash against the far-right from figures like Musk also underscores an understanding of what makes America “great”. Its wealth and power owe much to its ability to attract the best talent in the world, both job seekers and creators. In fact, it could be argued that it is the openness of the world’s oldest democracy that makes it an apt partner for the world’s largest. Talent trained and educated in places like India is driving growth and innovation in the US. As much as strategic interests and calculations, the social and economic connections fostered by Indian workers in America shore up bilateral ties. There’s also the fact that US courts, in addition to businesses, have frowned on curbs on immigration on flimsy grounds, such as the ban on migrants from Muslim countries during his first term. Trump appears to have recognised the importance of one kind of migrant to MAGA. Hopefully, in his second tenure as president, he will also show a broader acknowledgement, noises from the fringe notwithstanding.
