US President-elect Donald Trump has thrown right-wing supporters for a curveball, siding with Elon Musk in support of H-1B visas for foreign workers.

Musk found himself in the midst of a firestorm over the weekend when he voiced—in a profanity-laced X post—that H-1B visas played an important part in the American economy. As The New York Post points out, Musk’s post was in response to a one by Steven Mackey, in which Mackey used one of Musk’s popular business philosophies against him.

The backlash has been swift and severe, especially from the diehard MAGA element of the Republican party, who want to see high-tech jobs go to Americans rather than foreign workers. Any hope such individuals had of Trump siding with them were dashed Saturday when he gave an exclusive statement to The Post voicing his support of the program.

“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said by phone.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump.

As The Post notes, this appears to be a change of stance for Trump, as has been critical of the H-1B program in the past, and took steps to curtail it during his first term.

Previous Controversy

This is not the first time the H-1B has stirred controversy. In the wake of devastating rounds of layoffs toward the end of the pandemic, tech firms were securing thousands of H-1B visas so they could replace well-paid American workers with less-expensive foreign workers. The list of companies included Amazon, Facebook/Meta, Microsoft, Palantir, Salesforce, and Zoom.

It’s a safe bet many have not forgotten tech companies seemingly using the H-1B program to pull a fast one in an effort to swap out large portions of their workforce for cheaper foreign workers. Only time will whether the MAGA crowd will win, or if Trump will continue to side with Musk.