A MAGA civil war has erupted over the issuance of H-1B visas. A schism has developed between MAGA stalwarts Steve Bannon, Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and President-elect Trump.

The MAGA stalwarts view the visas as depriving American-born workers of jobs. Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy claim the reason H1-B visas are needed is because our country is not producing enough STEM college graduates to fill the ever-expanding demand for their skills. This may be one of the few times I agree with President-elect Trump.

The main argument MAGA folks make against immigrants who enter the country is that they are taking jobs from native-born Americans because they are willing to work for lower wages. That doesn’t apply to most H1-B visa holders. These foreign workers fill a critical need in the U.S. labor market. No serious U.S. company would offer H-1B visa holders below-market wages. If they did, there would plenty of other companies willing to step in and outbid them. It’s basic economics, supply and demand.

Having worked in high tech for 35 years before retiring, I can attest to this. We could never recruit enough qualified STEM candidates (GPA greater than 3.0) to fill our needs. And, it wasn’t because of uncompetitive wages. We were offering $75,000 to $80,000 starting salaries — and that was 10 years ago!

Political interests can bring together people who otherwise have little in common. Trump’s position on H-1B visas is an example for me. Politics does indeed makes strange bedfellows.

Samuel Rosenthal
Portland