Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump had a public dispute about foreign workers in tech, and lawmakers in Tallahassee file bills over the holidays.

Online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition

An online spat between factions of President-elect Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House.

The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies.

The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump's selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S.

Loomer declared the stance to be "not America First policy" and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.

Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns.

Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers.

It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for.

Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers.

Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded.

Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers.

"There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. "It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley."

Lawmakers file bills in Tallahassee over the holiday week

While most lawmakers took advantage of a holiday week away from work, a few remained on the job, filing bills ahead of the 2025 legislative session. Among the bills filed Friday, two were filed by state Rep. Joel Rudman from the panhandle. 

They were House Bill 71, Civil Actions Brought by Unauthorized Aliens, and House Joint Resolution 77, proposing a statewide constitutional amendment allowing for the recall of county officers and commissioners by voters in those counties.

From state Rep. Gossett-Seidman in Boca Raton comes House Bill 73, the Safe Waterways Act, which deals with what state agency should be doing samplings of beach waters and public bathing places.

And House Bill 75 from state Rep. David Borrero would address displays of flags by government entities. 

The text of the bill states: “A governmental entity may not erect or display a flag that represents a political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint. The governmental entity must remain neutral when representing political viewpoints in displaying or erecting a flag.”

The bill also, “Authorizes current or retired members of United States Armed Forces or National Guard to use reasonable force to prevent desecration, destruction, or removal of a United States flag or to replace such flag to a position of prominence."

Committee weeks in Tallahassee begin Jan. 13, while the session starts on March 4.