r/Republican 1d ago

Laura Loomer Calls For MAGA Boycott After Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Defend H-1B Visas; X Owner Dismisses Her As A ‘Troll’ Breaking News

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/laura-loomer-calls-for-maga-boycott-after-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-defend-h-1b-visas-x-owner-dismisses-her-as-a-troll/amp_articleshow/116705150.cms
143 Upvotes

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u/Dapper-Ad9557 22h ago edited 22h ago

How many of you in this sub are engineers or work in STEM fields? I’m an engineer of Indian ancestry, and I can say with confidence that many American engineers are struggling to find jobs. Just recently, I was talking to a coworker about a young engineering graduate we know who graduated with 4.0 GPA but hasn’t been able to find a job. He’s struggling with his mental health and was trying to unalive himself.

Companies like Chevron, Shell, Google, and LinkedIn are laying off U.S.-based engineers and replacing them with offshore workers or those on H1B visas. I know this because I’ve spoken to my relatives in India and my fellow American engineering graduates who see it happening firsthand.

I voted for Trump because I believe in “America First,” not “Elon and Vivek First.” Our kids aren’t less capable simply because they’re more well-rounded (attending prom or playing sports). Indian students are often forced to study 12 hours a day or more, and even when they graduate, many of them are unhappy with their lives. I know this from reading Indian Reddit forums and hearing directly from people in those communities.

American kids are not lacking in talent or intelligence. JD Vance is just one example of the incredible potential we have in this country. It’s time we focus on supporting our own students and professionals.

My father came to the United States on an H1B visa, eventually obtaining a green card and later becoming a citizen. Reflecting on his experience, he often shares how restrictive life on an H1B visa can be. You're largely tied to your employer, with limited flexibility to change jobs or explore opportunities. This dependency can feel restricted, as your ability to stay in the country is closely linked to your employment.

Some people make money by bringing H-1B visa workers to the U.S., acting like headhunters. In some cases, fraud is involved, like certain Indian colleges where people can allegedly pay for fake degrees. While many H-1B workers are highly skilled and genuine, not all cases are honest, and misuse does happen.

The issue with Vivek is that he comes across as a "know-it-all" upper-middle-class kid who had everything handed to him. His parents are wealthy, and while he talks a big game, he doesn’t truly understand what it’s like to grow up as a poor kid from a coal-mining town. My husband, for example, is a white Appalachian who joined the military to pay for college and served through four deployments. We don't need more "smart people" from other countries when we are producing smart kids in America just fine.

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u/elber3th 21h ago edited 14h ago

My father also came in on H1B visa after studying in USA. H1B was his opportunity of a lifetime. Of course we would have preferred less restrictive visa conditions, but even with these constraints it was the best decision for him and our family.

I’m sorry that your acquaintance had job market difficulties and tried to end himself. But if someone can’t find a job in the richest country in the world with the best and highest paying tech opportunities, he’s not going to be having an easier time anywhere else in the world.

America is a dynamic country because the entrepreneurial and hardworking peoples of the world consistently decide to move here to pursue their dreams. We should continuing opening opportunities for legal immigration of the world’s talent because that’s what makes the nation strong.

BTW: The average H1B visa holder makes well over $100k https://www.myvisajobs.com/reports/h1b/work-state/

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u/Dapper-Ad9557 21h ago edited 21h ago

You’re right that the H1B visa provides incredible opportunities, and it’s great your family benefited from it, just like mine did. But it’s important to remember that the job market is really tough right now, especially for recent graduates.

Tech layoffs, stiff competition, and high expectations for entry-level jobs are making it difficult even for talented people to find positions. It’s unfair to assume that someone who struggled just couldn’t make it. Everyone faces different challenges, like tough timing, market conditions, or personal stress. Instead of placing blame, we should focus on solutions, like better hiring practices and more support for recent grads.

Also, keep in mind that the $100K salary often quoted for H1B workers is influenced by cost of living in expensive cities. For example:

  • San Francisco Bay Area: $120K - $180K+
  • Seattle: $110K - $160K
  • New York City: $100K - $150K
  • Austin: $90K - $140K
  • Rural areas: $60K - $100K

Salaries are higher in tech hubs because of the higher demand and cost of living, which means $100K in one city may not stretch far in another.

Graduates today are facing big challenges. Economic uncertainty means companies are less willing to invest in training new hires. Many "entry-level" roles now ask for 2-3 years of experience, which is a major barrier. The job market is crowded, with more graduates competing for fewer positions. On top of that, remote work has opened up competition globally, so U.S. grads are now competing with talent from around the world.

In India, the situation is similar. Only about 10% of the 1.5 million engineers graduating each year secure jobs, even though 64% are considered employable. Many Indian graduates struggle because they lack practical skills and industry knowledge. They may do well in theory but need better hands-on experience to solve real-world problems.

Source: Business Standard Article

https://youtu.be/y-elx-J1OwM?si=j9gh0jCoGl6gchdZ

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u/wafflehabitsquad 12h ago

I do not understand how you though voting for Trump would solve this.

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u/Dapper-Ad9557 12h ago

I voted for Trump because he ran on America first and closed borders. During his first administration he was strict on H1B as well. Importing people, whether illegally or legally depresses wages in this country. If you have to pay engineers 80 K versus 60 K for H1B??? Who do you think they will hire?

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-cognizant-h1b-visas-discriminates-us-workers/?embedded-checkout=true

“In October, a jury in a federal class-action lawsuit returned a verdict that found Cognizant intentionally discriminated against more than 2,000 non-Indian employees between 2013 and 2022. The verdict, which echoed a previously undisclosed finding from a 2020 US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation, centered on discrimination claims based on race and national origin. Cognizant, based in Teaneck, New Jersey, was found to have preferred workers from India, most of whom joined the firm’s US workforce of about 32,000 using skilled-worker visas called H-1Bs”

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u/PsychoPir8 1d ago

Well, she is a troll, so…

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u/cathbadh 1d ago

So is Musk. I'd be happy if both were to just go away and let Trump get to work.

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u/PsychoPir8 20h ago

I agree that Musk can be trolling at times, but I don’t put him in the same camp as Loony Loomer. I also agree that if he focused on DOGE and his companies, piped down, and allowed Trump to get to work, that would likely be for the best.

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u/cathbadh 12h ago

I'd be happier if he'd just go away. I don't think he'll use DOGE to the country's benefit, not when he makes a lot of money from government contracts and has truly moronic views on the military and immigration.

In the end he'll find something that Trump doesn't like that he won't be able to shut the hell up about, and that'll be the end of his control over government spending or policy.

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u/MoleUK 1d ago edited 1d ago

She absolutely is a troll.

Elon is now stripping some of these critics of his on X of their verification, among other things. Which proves pretty much all his claims to even-handedness and being against censorship on X to be completely dependent on agreeing with him, or at least not pissing him off.

The infighting was inevitable given how far apart some of the people in the MAGA circle are politically, and frankly it's going to get a lot worse.

Especially on immigration, where people like Elon and Vivek have been quite openly pro-immigration for years. They made no secret of it.

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u/stlyns 1d ago

Immigration is fine. ILLEGAL immigration is the issue.

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u/Racheakt 1d ago

Sure but the legal immigration is also an issue; H1B has been abused for decades and effectively making it unlimited is not something I voted for.

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u/stlyns 1d ago

Nothing wrong with bringing in the best and highest skilled foreign workers, considering there aren't enough Americans to fill those postions.

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u/Dapper-Ad9557 1d ago

I am an Indian American engineer. I don’t agree with you when you say there are not enough people to fill jobs in US. There is a lot of us here willing to do the work. We expect to get paid decent wage. That is the problem. Companies want slave labor.

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u/Crosswinds45 1d ago

Don't settle for lower wages otherwise you become part of the problem.

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u/Racheakt 1d ago

Except both of those are far from being true. There is plenty of skilled US IT workers, the imported labor is not that much if any better, this program is being used to lock in foreign labor under the treat of deportation to repress wages.

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u/stlyns 1d ago

I hear that from lots of unemployed IT workers.

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u/Racheakt 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am a manager in an IT company; I have been made to hire H1B by the company over American a couple of times.

The over all desired result seems to be cutting job mobility off at the knees.

From personal experience H1B worker is not magically better; I mean they will work any and all hours I want, but I rather have an SA that gets his work done in 40 hrs a week and not 70 to do the same work.

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u/cathbadh 1d ago

The problem is, there are American workers. It's just often cheaper to hire from outside the country. You can save a lot of money by pushing wages as low as possible.

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u/Traditional_Bag430 1d ago

Pro legal immigration. So is trump. What's your point.

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u/AtticusXA 1d ago

Agreed

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u/wizology_ 1d ago

These next four years are gonna be pure entertainment lol

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u/AnimeAdd1ct 1d ago

Wtf are you on about. When shes banned frok the platform then cry censorship. This is nothing compared to the censorship libtards woukd love to impose.

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u/cpg215 1d ago

Brother, people on the right would not be happy with jack dorsey stripping verification badges from people he disagreed with. Even if they did worse like outright banning people, that doesn’t make it ok

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u/SetOk6462 Conservative 🇺🇲 1d ago

She is a troll, but in this case Elon calling for more H1B’s should be called out as garbage.

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u/RyP82 1d ago

We should be incentivizing Americans to pursue STEAM jobs. Let’s try hiring at home first, no? Let’s ask Canada how they feel about similar approach their country has taken over the past decade.

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u/elber3th 22h ago

There’s plenty of incentive already, STEM wages in USA are higher than anywhere in the world. We’ve been telling people to “learn how to code” for a decade now.

Average H1B job pays over $100k. https://www.myvisajobs.com/reports/h1b/work-state/

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u/Winstons33 1d ago

My God...some of you are acting like Sheep here. Laura Loomer is 100% correct to call them out on this.

Do any of you REALLY think increased H1B Visa's is consistent with the MAGA message? Musk and Vivek are showing their cards here, and I doubt either of them are the allies we wanted to believe.

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u/SoggeMcDi 1d ago

leopard ate my face moment

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u/Kornbread2000 1d ago

That depends what you mean by MAGA. We are currently educating some of the smartest people on the planet at research universities subsidized by the U.S. government and then when they graduate telling them they have to leave the U.S. and go work somewhere else because we don't have visas for them. That may make us "great" in some sense of the word, but it certainly prevents us from being as great as we could be.

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u/Winstons33 1d ago

That's a separate problem.

I've looked at a LOT of H1B resumes. VERY few of these people have US degrees.

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u/Otherwise-Sleep2683 1d ago

Agree and having worked in the bay, what they have is rarely up to par with an American Degree.

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u/elber3th 1d ago

Okay, then expand H1B visas for American graduates. lol

I have a talented uni classmate who was doing super well at an Apple engineering job and was dropped because of lottery random chance. Everyone loses there

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u/finsup_305 MAGA! 🇺🇲 1d ago

H-1B visas is a work visa, is it not? What's wrong with those? The issue was illegal immigration, not immigration. Immigrants are important to our country. We just have to make sure they come here legally.

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u/ztexxmee 1d ago

elon is wanting to get rid of H1B visa limits. that’s what isn’t good. if that happens, all companies will ever do is hire non-americans on a visa because they accept less pay.

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u/finsup_305 MAGA! 🇺🇲 1d ago

Oh yeah I don't agree with that.

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u/HastingsIV 1d ago

Its not just less pay, but entry level positions at pay levels stuck in the 90s. Domestic Americans cannot compete with it.

The best and brightest should include scientists and doctors, not plumbers, interns, and accountants, but that's just a few of the positions that h1b uses for indentured domestic replacement.

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u/elber3th 1d ago

I thought H1B was primarily used for tech. There’s plumbers that are hired by H1B?

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u/JE163 1d ago

H1B visas get abused to lower wages. I know several people who are being replaced with H1B’s earning 1/3 of the salary.

Someone else recommended a lottery type of system where H1B visas would be awarded to companies willing to pay the highest salary. I think that would be a much better approach.

Ad for H1B reforms — we have so many communities that are unemployed or underemployed. We need a way to not only train them and help them get out of poverty but their children too

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u/Sachin-_- 1d ago

A small but vocal group of republicans are straight up anti-immigration. I personally think we need to heavily reform the H1-B process, but I don’t buy into the “white replacement” crap you see on twitter.

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u/finsup_305 MAGA! 🇺🇲 1d ago

Yeah, i don't buy into that trap either. I think we should halt the visa process for a few months, shut the border down, and be behind a large-scale deportation process, but I don't think we should stop all immigration forever. That's ridiculous.

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u/wizology_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

That whole white replacement shit is crazy and I can’t believe there’s actual people who fall for it lol , it’s really just a simple population issue , what happens when people decide not to make babies and it’s across all demographics not just white people , and then you got mix race marriages and what not… edit: keep the downvotes coming ya wankers , all cause I debunked your dumbass “ theory “

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u/NavyNatural8 1d ago

Not sure how it's crazy — white people are literally becoming a minority in virtually every historically white country because of mass immigration and leftist cultural hegemony destroying our familial norms. Big tech supports it for cheap labor and leftists push for it because they hate white people.

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u/hy7211 17h ago

Plus, mainstream media themselves have talked about it being a thing, but call it "demographics is destiny"

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GooberRonny Conservative 🇺🇲 1d ago

50 percent of field workers in Idaho are illegal. The republicans in Idaho don't care but will cry about work visas knowing damn well Idaho is full of illegal migrants.

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u/LongJohnVanilla Constitutional Conservative 1d ago

She’s 100% correct. F Musk and Vivek.

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u/lacorte 1d ago

She a combination of a fame-seeking narcissist and a mentally disturbed woman.

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u/cptjaydvm 1d ago

Laura Loomer is an idiot troll and we would be wise to stop defending her behavior. She makes MAGA look bad.

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u/attempthappy2020 1d ago

Yes, exactly

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u/et_hornet Moderate 🇺🇲 1d ago

Rare Elon W

Loomer and some of her comments make us normal republicans look bad

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u/OGCASHforGOLD 1d ago

Fuck h1b visas... There, I said it

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u/ztexxmee 1d ago

America first

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u/WreckingBall188 1d ago

Why are the dumbest among us always the loudest?

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u/stlyns 1d ago

She IS a troll.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/NavyNatural8 1d ago

She's literally Jewish and a prominent supporter of Israel.

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u/CynfullyDelicious 1d ago

Someone needs to muzzle that psycho nutjob.

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u/brokenthumb11 1d ago

Not sure why everyone is getting downvotes. She's a psychopath and unhinged. I wouldn't want her anywhere near me if I was Trump. When she went off on Viva and others leading up to the election, I had to block that lunatic.

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u/BillClinternet007 20h ago

I don't want h1b immigrants either

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u/Logical_Class_5184 Paleoconservative 14h ago

America First. America isn't "country of immigrants", It's country of Americans, founded by European settlers in the 18th century.

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u/wizology_ 7h ago

Founded by European settlers but funded by African slavery lmao