Trump calls H-1B visas necessary to bring in 'certain talents' that he says the U.S. lacks [View all]

Source: NBC News

Nov. 11, 2025, 10:54 PM EST


President Donald Trump defended H-1B visas during an interview that aired Tuesday night, arguing foreign labor is needed at times because U.S. workers do not have "certain talents." Trump made the remarks during a Fox News interview when asked whether his administration would prioritize the costly visas that allow skilled workers from overseas to temporarily work in the United States. He said the U.S. has to “bring in talent.”

When pressed by Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who said, "We have plenty of talented people here," Trump responded: “No, you don’t have — you don’t have certain talents. And you have to — people have to learn.” Trump has touted securing investments from abroad, including those that would boost the auto and artificial intelligence industries. But he suggested in the interview that some American workers might not be the best prepared for various phases of production.

"You can’t take people off an unemployment, like an unemployment line, and say, 'I’m going to put you into a factory,'" Trump said. "You can't just say a country is coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant, and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years, and they're going to start making their missiles. It doesn't work that well," he added.

Trump's comments acknowledging the role played by immigrants in economic growth and innovation contradicts some of his messaging during his administration's immigration crackdown, which has also made life more difficult for many immigrants who are

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-calls-h-1b-visas-necessary-bring-certain-talents-says-us-lacks-rcna243367

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Someone obviously handed him a speech to read and his handlers didn't get to him fast enough to ditch it.

Companies were encouraged to NOT pay for training and instead just offshore to countries that DID spend money on training and that would "save money and enhance 'profits'". Concomitant with that, they just brought in "crews" from south of the border (including some that you would see at the Home Depot parking lots). Thus many of the vocational high schools and colleges started to close down.

Biden had a whole program to help transition coal miners with training, etc., to do the newer energy tech and that was outright rejected and eventually eliminated. The round-up and humiliation of those South Korean workers constructing a battery plant in Georgia, was an example of the types of skilled construction work that has been lacking.