The ongoing rivalry between former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy escalated further, with Haley sharply criticizing Ramaswamy's support for H1-B visas.
The debate gained renewed attention follow
ing the appointment of Siriam Krishnan as a senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Conservatives have long criticized the H1-B visa program, describing it as "abusive" and a tool to suppress wages for white-collar American workers. Ramaswamy intensified the controversy by claiming that America has "venerated mediocrity over excellence."
Haley responded to Ramaswamy on Thursday, tweeting: "There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers."
Haley expanded her critique on Friday, highlighting her approach as governor of South Carolina to prioritize American workers over foreign labor.
“When I was governor in SC, our unemployment went from 11% to 4%,” Haley stated. “How? Not by hiring foreign workers. We recruited foreign companies to invest in SC, but not their workers. We retrained South Carolinians in our tech schools for these new jobs.”
She detailed how companies in South Carolina launched apprenticeship programs for high school and college students, emphasizing that the costs were covered by the companies, not the government. “Today, South Carolinians are building planes, automobiles, tires, etc. And building them well,” she added.
Haley took direct aim at the tech industry, criticizing its reliance on foreign labor: “What is lazy is for the tech industry to automatically go to foreign workers for their needs. If the tech industry needs workers, invest in our education system. Invest in our American workforce.”
She concluded with a rallying cry: “We must invest in Americans first before looking elsewhere. Don’t ever underestimate the talent of Americans or the American spirit.”
Haley’s rebuttal of Ramaswamy’s arguments for H1-B visas follow as Haley and Ramaswamy have had a series of heated arguments during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
During the second GOP debate in September 2023, Haley said of Ramaswamy, “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.” The former South Carolina governor had knocked Ramaswamy for promoting the use of TikTok.
“What they’re doing is, these 150 million people are on TikTok, that means they can get your contacts. They can get your financial information. They can get your emails, they can get your text messages. They can get all of these things. China knows exactly what they’re doing,” Haley said about TikTok’s data harvesting practices.