The TOI correspondent from Washington: Amid taunts of TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) MAGA hardliners fumed about being let down by the White House walk-back on enhanced H-1B visa fee, complained that President Trump had chosen big tech over American workers, and demanded a more stringent reading of his executive order to keep out foreign workers they claim are taking away “American jobs.” “Well this ruined my day. It should apply to renewals. And it should apply to transfers. And it should apply to ones that leave and return. Because if they leave and return so much – why aren’t they just employed remotely? Why do they need a visa?” a stoked anti-HIB critic wrote on X after the White House clarification walking back some aspects of the $100k enhanced fee.
MAGA hardliners are also unloading on the President for backing down, pointing out that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick twice explicitly said during the White House presser that the $100k fee would be an annual fee.“This isn’t miscommunication. Trump chickened out yet again,” one MAGA activist said.Also read: Do new rules stop current H-1B visa holders from traveling out of US? USCIS issues FAQsAlthough the reprieve is only temporary and partial – the 100k fee will be one-time and kicks in after March 2026 – MAGA tech activists are now taking aim at OPT programs, which allow foreign graduates to stay on in the US for training after they graduate, and L1 visas, which allow multinational companies to transfer certain qualified employees from a foreign office to a related office in the US. In the line of fire are global corporations like Microsoft and Google, both incidentally led by Indian-Americans, who are being accused of being “globalists” who are not serving American interests. “If the Trump administration truly wants to help American tech workers and STEM graduates, it needs to end the OPT program, which was created entirely through regulation. Otherwise, it isn’t serious about fixing this issue,” a US tech workers lobby group complained, asserting that companies like Google and Microsoft won’t be affected by the Trump proclamation because they source their foreign workers through L-1 visas or from those who arrived on student visas.Also read: Relief for current H-1B employees but a blow to future hiringThe sharp uptick in MAGA nativism is alarming some and amusing others who see it as a sign of the US losing its mojo. Critics of the so-called “MAGA virus” are warning that shutting down the US to foreigners and immigrants risks diminishing American global primacy. “The people behind Maga are people who are not optimistic about the future of the United States. Maga is strongest where American technological development is weakest… where America is least competitive,” David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W Bush said in one tv interview, calling the MAGA outlook “domestic bigotry that crimps your ability to be great in the world.”But even tech titans who formerly espoused immigration and globalisation, and still lead companies that are global in nature, have been cowed into silence. Elon Musk, who last December tweeted that he would go to war to defend H1B visas, has remained silent about the new order, although his defenders say he has been in favor of enhanced fees – something his companies can afford but which may be out of reach for start-ups.
