From The Hill: President Trump in a new interview defended bringing in foreign workers on visas, arguing the U.S. did not have enough people with “certain talents” to do particular jobs.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Trump on the issue of H-1B visas, which has been a point of division among conservatives. Ingraham argued that bringing in thousands of foreign workers would hurt efforts to raise wages for Americans.
“Well, I agree, but you also do have to bring in talent when a country…” Trump said in the interview, which aired Tuesday on “The Ingraham Angle.”
The host interjected, “Well, we have plenty of talented people here.”
“No, you don’t,” the president replied.
“We don’t have talented people here?” Ingraham argued.
“No, you don’t have certain talents and people have to learn,” Trump added. “You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory where we’re going to make missiles.’”
“How did we ever do it before, when you and I were growing up?” she fired back.
Trump then brought up the example of an ICE raid in early September at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, where 475 illegal aliens — mostly South Koreans – were arrested.
“They raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out. They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives,” he said, arguing that those people were needed to teach Americans how to make batteries.
WATCH his full remarks below:
🚨I PRESSED President Trump on H-1B visas.🚨
“If you want to RAISE WAGES for Americans, you can’t flood the country with THOUSANDS of foreign workers.”@POTUS: “You have to bring in talent… You can’t take people off the unemployment line and say, ‘go make missiles.’”
The… pic.twitter.com/lB4wWuRKGK
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 12, 2025
The video has gotten 1.2 million views and generated over 4,700 comments. Many conservatives are upset by Trump’s comments.
One X user, Arshia Rafiee, a real estate advisor and investor, posted the following message to Trump:
Mr. President, I understand that there are times when it’s necessary to bring in highly qualified, vetted, and friendly foreign workers to fill certain skill gaps. However, I strongly believe that the American people should always come first.
If additional training is needed for American workers, companies should be required — with the full backing and support of Washington — to create programs that equip citizens with the skills needed to compete and thrive. This kind of initiative would not only strengthen our workforce but also rebuild communities that have been left behind, especially in places like the Rust Belt, which once represented the heart of America’s industrial strength but now stands as a shadow of its former self.
While I’m not opposed to skilled foreign labor, my priority will always be putting the American worker first. With the right training, support, and opportunity, there is no reason why our people can’t fill the very roles being imported.
Mr. President,
I understand that there are times when it’s necessary to bring in highly qualified, vetted, and friendly foreign workers to fill certain skill gaps. However, I strongly believe that the American people should always come first.
If additional training is needed…
— Arshia Rafiee (@ArshiaRafiee94) November 12, 2025
One person wrote, “POTUS is correct. But the appropriate question is why isn’t our most expensive education system in the world producing people who can work on rockets and missile.”
Another person argued, “You also can’t use H-1B Visa holders to make missiles. That would fall squarely under ITAR and H-1B holders are clearly counted as foreign persons under those regulations. Just like Elon can’t hire them at SpaceX, you can’t hire them to make missiles.”
“Americans have made missile parts in the past even women did while the men went to war. Skills are taught and people can be trained to make parts. There’s also machinery involved now and advanced tech. Glad you pushed back on that,” another X user wrote.
U.S. Tech Workers wrote, “The number of foreign “experts” who come here to train U.S. workers is small and they usually arrive on L-1 or B-1 visas, which can also be misused for cheap labor like we saw with Hyundai and Infosys. The H-1B is mainly an outsourcing and American worker displacement visa used for white-collar jobs. Trump keeps missing this distinction, and it’s bad messaging on an issue that’s highly sensitive with his base and U.S. workers facing a weak job market.”
“Where is my President?” asked a stunned Kylie Jane Kremer.
Lizzie Marbach, a former Trump 2020 campaign staffer, wrote, “Think about what he’s saying here. He is saying that foreigners are more talented & capable than Americans. Absolutely abhorrent rhetoric from a president.”
Think about what he’s saying here. He is saying that foreigners are more talented & capable than Americans.
Absolutely abhorrent rhetoric from a president. https://t.co/hqI4nUQwzH
— Lizzie Marbach (@LizzieMarbach) November 12, 2025
Wednesday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on Fox & Friends and tried to clean it up, saying Trump’s plan for visas is to TEMPORARILY bring in expert overseas workers to train Americans, they they go BACK home.
“We haven’t built ships, semiconductors for years in the US. Overseas partners come in, teach American workers? That’s a home-run,” he argued.
🚨 BREAKING: Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent says President Trump’s plan for visas is to TEMPORARILY bring in expert overseas workers to train Americans, they they go BACK home.
“Train the US workers. Then, go home. Then, the US workers fully take over.”
KILMEADE: You understand… pic.twitter.com/vDbabSVxDW
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 12, 2025
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