Washington: Federal agencies will begin to vacate hundreds of offices across the country this summer under a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk’s budget-cutting advisers to terminate leases that they say waste money.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, but internal documents obtained by The Associated Press contain a crucial detail when those cancellations are expected to take effect. The documents from inside the General Services Administration, the US government’s real estate manager, list dozens of federal office and building leases expected to end by June 30, with hundreds more slated over the coming months.

The rapid pace of cancellations has raised alarms, with some agencies and lawmakers appealing to DOGE to exempt specific buildings. Several agencies are facing 20 or more lease cancellations in all, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Geological Survey.

Many of the terminations would affect agencies that aren’t as well-known but oversee services critical to many Americans.

They span from a Boise, Idaho, office of the Bureau of Reclamation — which oversees water supply and deals with disputes across the often-parched American West — to a Joliet, Illinois, outpost of the Railroad Retirement Board, which provides benefits for railroad workers and their survivors.

The lease terminations do not mean all the locations will close. In some cases, agencies may negotiate new leases to stay in place, downsize their existing space or relocate elsewhere.

“Some agencies are saying I’m not leaving. We can’t leave,’ said Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official who now represents building owners with government leases at Arco Real Estate Solutions. “I think there’s going to be a period of pushback, a period of disbelief. And then, if necessary, they may start working on the actual execution of a move.

Errors add to confusion

DOGE says GSA has notified landlords in recent weeks that it plans to terminate 793 leases, focusing mostly on those that can be ended within months without penalty. The group estimates those moves will save roughly $500 million over the terms of the leases, which in some cases were slated to continue into the 2030s. The Bureau of Reclamation cancellation in Boise, for instance, would take effect Aug. 31 and is expected to save a total of $18.7 million through 2035.

But DOGE’s savings estimates — a fraction of Musk’s $1 trillion cost-cutting goal — have not been verified and do not take into account the costs of moves and closures. The group has released no information about what they will mean for agencies.

“My initial reaction is this is just going to cause more chaos,” said Jim Simpson, an accountant in Arizona who helps low-income people file taxes and serves on an IRS panel that advocates for taxpayers. “There’s a lot of room to help with government efficiency, but it should be done surgically and not with a chainsaw.”

Simpson said he was surprised to learn that dozens of IRS offices, including local taxpayer assistance centres, were facing upcoming lease cancellations. He refers clients there to get paperwork to file returns and answer IRS inquiries, and he said losing services would “cause a lot of anxiety” and delay refunds.

Plans to cancel the leases at several of the IRS centres and other sites were in error and have been rescinded, according to a person with direct knowledge of the changes who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid retaliation. Those changes are not yet reflected on DOGE’s list, which only removed one and added dozens more in its latest update published Thursday.

The GSA walked back the cancellation of a Geological Survey office in Anchorage, Alaska, for instance, after learning it did not have termination rights, according to the person familiar with the matter.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Monday that he’d convinced DOGE to back off lease terminations planned for the National Weather Centre in Norman, a Social Security office in Lawton and the Indian Health Services office in Oklahoma City. But all three leases remained on DOGE’s list of cancellations as of Thursday.

GSA’s press office didn’t respond to inquiries.

The real estate market is blindsided

While there was already a bipartisan push to reduce the government’s real estate footprint, the mass cancellations blindsided an industry known for its stability.

Landlords who had been expecting government agencies to remain tenants, for several more years in some cases under their existing leases, were stunned. Some agencies learned from building managers, not their federal partners, that their leases were being canceled, according to real estate managers.

Becker, whose firm is tracking the DOGE lease cancellations, and other observers said they expect some agencies will be unable to move their personnel and property out of their spaces within such tight timelines. That may force some agencies to pay additional rent during what’s known as a holdover period, undermining DOGE’s stated goal of saving taxpayer money.

The Building Owners and Managers Association, which represents the commercial real estate industry, told landlords in a recent advocacy alert to be prepared to seek payment from any federal government tenants who stay beyond their leases.

Many affected agencies aren’t speaking up

Asked about plans for buildings with leases that will soon expire, the IRS did not respond. A Social Security Administration spokesperson downplayed the impact of its offices losing leases, saying many were “small remote hearing sites,” did not serve the public, were already being consolidated elsewhere or planned for closure.

Several other agencies provided little clarity — saying they were working with GSA to consider their options, in statements that were nearly identical in some cases.

But a spokesperson for the Railroad Retirement Board expressed concern over the upcoming lease cancellations of its offices in Joliet, Illinois, and eight other states, saying it was working to maintain a public-facing office presence for the local railroad community.”

Government Accountability Office official David Marroni told a congressional hearing last week that the push to unload unnecessary federal real estate was “long overdue,” saying agencies have for too long held on to unnecessary space. But he warned the downsizing must be deliberate and carefully planned to “generate substantial savings and mitigate the risk of mistakes and unexpected mission impacts.”

That process had already started before Musk’s team arrived, with the federal government’s real estate portfolio steadily declining over the last decade. Indeed, critics of DOGE say if it were truly interested in cost-cutting, it could learn from GSA, whose mission even before Trump took office was to deliver “effective and efficient” services to the American public.

A law signed by former President Joe Biden before he left office in January directed agencies to measure the true occupancy rates of leased spaces by this summer. Those that did not meet a target of 60% use rate over time would be directed to dispose of their excess space.

”There is a logical and orderly way to do this,” Rep. Greg Stanton, an Arizona Democrat, said at last week’s hearing. Instead, he said, DOGE is pursuing a reckless approach that threatens to harm the delivery of public services.

Industry observers cautioned that each situation is different, and it will take months or years to understand the full impact of the lease cancellations.

“It really depends on the terms. But it is a shock, there is no question, that all of a sudden, boom, in six weeks, all these things have happened,” said J. Reid Cummings, a professor of finance and real estate at the University of South Alabama.

AP

Washington: Mia Francis, a 22-year-old barista from Boston, filed her taxes on her own this year for the first time, using a free government tax filing program that made it easy because it did most of the work for her.

Francis said it took 45 minutes to finish her taxes with the IRS Direct File programme, an electronic tax return filing system that the IRS made permanent last year and that has rolled out to 25 states.

Francis is expecting a $530 refund. And because she saved cash by not using a commercial tax preparation company to file her taxes, “that money will go a long way,” she said. She plans to use it for a trip to Amsterdam this year.

Despite its popularity with Francis and other members of the American public, the IRS Direct File’s fate remains unclear as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency cleave their way through the federal bureaucracy.

So far, the program is still available for use ahead of the April 15 tax filing deadline, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent committed during his January confirmation hearing to maintaining it, at least for this tax season.

Representatives from the Internal Revenue Service and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on their plans for Direct File. But one Republican tax expert says the IRS never got congressional authorization to create Direct File.

And Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation firms complain the programme is a waste of money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use.

Direct File was rolled out as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. Last May, the agency announced that the programme would be made permanent.

The IRS accepted 140,803 returns filed by taxpayers using Direct File in the 12 states where it was available last tax season. It’s been expanded to include half the country this year. It is unclear how many taxpayers have used Direct File this year.

Merici Vinton, an original architect of Direct File from the US Digital Service, noted the ease and accessibility of the programme and called it “a great example of how people should interact with the government in the 21st century.”

“We effectively launched a startup in the IRS,” she said. “It was built by an in-house product team, in an iterative manner, and we ship updates to the software to improve user experience in real time based on feedback. If we continue to invest in it, both taxpayers and the IRS can benefit.”

Musk posted last month on his social media site that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’s Direct File programme.

This led to some confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers. However, conversations inside the IRS indicate that no decision has been made on whether to cut the program, two people familiar with these conversations tell the AP.

Former IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, who oversaw the rollout of the programme, said Treasury officials considering the future of the program should take into account “the voice of the taxpayers.”

“My reflection is that taxpayers are in very different situations and have very different preferences for how they want to file,” he said. “Those whose preference is to file electronically direct with the IRS for free, it’s a good option to have on the menu. But it should not replace other options.”

Derrick Plummer, a spokesperson for Intuit, one of the country’s largest commercial tax preparation firms, said free tax preparation had been available for years before Direct File came along.

“IRS Direct File is a solution in search of a problem, a waste of taxpayer dollars and a drain on critical IRS resources,” he said. A June 2024 Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report estimates that the annual costs of Direct File may range from $64 million to $249 million.

“The IRS should focus on its core mission, including data privacy and customer service while policymakers in Washington focus on simplifying the tax code,” Plummer said.

However, other taxpayers, like 31-year-old Aquiel Warner in Austin, Texas, say they want to avoid using commercial tax preparation software.

Warner filed her taxes with Direct File in 10 minutes using her phone and a chatbot that the IRS provides. She likes the program’s convenience, that it prepopulated her tax forms and that it allowed for free filing. Although she has some concerns about data privacy in the government — DOGE is reported to have access to some of the IRS’s internal systems — she feels more secure going through the IRS than commercial tax preparation services.

“I don’t want to be a product. I don’t want my information sold when I file my taxes,” she said. “I have to file my taxes, and I don’t want to be put in a situation where, to file my taxes, I have to pay to get the help I need because I’m not a professional tax preparer.”

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the IRS never got explicit permission from Congress to create the Direct File system.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea. It was done illegally,” he said, calling on Congress and the Justice Department to look into what he says is unauthorized spending that went into the creation of Direct File.

Democratic lawmakers in January asked Bessent and IRS commissioner nominee Billy Long to preserve the program. They wrote in a letter that “ending Direct File would hurt everyday Americans.” Long has not yet received a nomination hearing.

In the meantime, Musk and his cadre of computer programmers could decide to wield their tech skills to boost the programme — or use the very same digital savvy to delete it.

For his part, Werfel hopes that the agency will keep the program. “It’s a big country with a lot of taxpayers with a lot of different preferences,” he said.

Francis, the Boston barista, hopes so, too.

”There are a lot of young people like me who are working and figuring out how to file their taxes — this just makes it faster and easier,” she said.

AP

Washington: Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are introducing a pair of resolutions demanding the Trump administration turn over documents and information about billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest and the firings of federal workers, The Associated Press has learned.

It’s the most aggressive move yet by Democrats trying to confront President Donald Trump’s actions. The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, and Rep. Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland are leading the effort as the party mounts a resistance against the Trump-Musk dismantling of government.

The resolutions of inquiry would launch investigations into Trump’s Republican administration and Musk through the Oversight panel. If the Republican-led committee fails to act, which is likely, the Democrats could push the resolutions to a House floor vote in a matter of weeks.

“President Trump, Elon Musk, and the DOGE team have been on a rampage to purge the government of non-partisan public servants and install political loyalists willing to turn a blind eye to corruption and grift,” said a fact-sheet accompanying the resolution from Mfume, the ranking Democrat on the panel’s subcommittee on Government Operations, probing the firing of federal workers.

“Despite repeated efforts by Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Democrats, the Administration has failed to provide any information about its plans or actions related to this purge.”

The resolution from Connolly would launch an investigation into Musk himself over potential conflicts of interest.

The action comes as Democrats are deepening their opposition to the Trump administration’s actions, particularly those of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is blazing through the federal government, slashing jobs and programs in search of waste, fraud and abuse.

As the minority party in the House, Democrats are limited in their ability to muscle any actions through committees or in votes on the House floor. Republicans on the Oversight Committee blocked the Democrats’ effort to issue a subpoena to Musk to testify before the panel in one of its first meetings.

But the resolution of inquiry provides a tool that Democrats can use to try and force the issue.

The resolution seeking information about the firing of federal workers would require the administration to provide documents, meeting notes, phone, mail and text records, and other information regarding:

“Each Federal employee placed on administrative leave, removed due to a reduction in force action, terminated, transferred, or reassigned to another department on orders, advice, or recommendation of Elon Musk, any individual considered to be a member of a DOGE agency team, or any official or unofficial member of the United States DOGE Service.”

It would also require documents, communications and information about the Office of Personnel Management’s decisions around the firings determination of diversity, equity and inclusion employees or those in offices working to improve DEI. And it seeks information regarding the firings of the inspectors general “including whether to notify Congress as legally required.”

The resolution of inquiry on Musk himself would seek to probe the billionaire’s web of businesses ventures and government contracts for any conflicts of interest.

It would require the president to provide information, documents, and communications to Congress related to Musk’s “role, official or nonofficial, with the Federal Government; any realized or perceived conflict of interest Elon Musk may have related to his role” with DOGE “or any other government or pseudo-government entity.”

It further seeks information on any potential conflicts of interest regarding Musk-owned companies, contracts or ventures or those on which he serves on the board of directors.

Under the House procedures, the Oversight committee has 14 days to act on the resolution of inquiry. If the panel fails to act, the resolutions become privileged, which means they can be expedited for floor consideration.

It is unlikely that Republicans would approve the resolutions in a floor vote, but Democrats would want to test that in the House, which is narrowly split between the parties. As a House resolution, passage would launch the probe, without needing to go to the Senate for action.

AP

New Delhi: The raging row over USAID funding to India for ‘voter turnout’ has kicked up a political storm, with Congress and BJP taking turns to potshots at each other over the ‘beneficiaries’. Congress called it another ‘jumla’ to mislead and misguide the nation while BJP has snapped back, accusing the former of colluding with foreign forces to conspire against the country.

The fresh bickering broke out this morning, with Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh sharing the Finance Ministry’s annual report for 2023-24 and stating that the contentious USAID (US Agency for International Development) scheme was engaged in seven projects and this was being done in collaboration with the government.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya was quick to hit back and called it the desperation of Congress and its ecosystem to deflect from the controversial USAID funding.

Breaking down the specifics of funding, he elaborated, “The USAID projects in question are official government-to-government partnerships, transparently executed as Externally Aided Projects (EAPs). The Centre simply channels these funds to states for development, which is well within the framework of cooperative federalism.”

He also said that the projects cited in the Finance Ministry’s 2023-24 report, shared by Jairam Ramesh, were started way back in 2010-11 and the same can be corroborated by the 2014-15 report.

Early this morning, Congress communications-in-charge Jairam Ramesh claimed that USAID is currently implementing seven projects in the country with a combined budget of $750 million.

“Not a single of these projects has to do with voter turnout. All of them are with and through the Union Government,” Ramesh said.

Replying to the charge, Amit Malviya took to X and asked, “Why is Congress defending covert interference by foreign donors and organizations linked to George Soros, which seek to destabilize our democracy under the guise of philanthropy?

Further, in a strong-worded statement, he said, “India’s sovereignty is not up for sale. India’s governance will not be dictated by foreign agents masquerading as benefactors.”

The controversy over a $21 million grant to India erupted after Elon Musk-led DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) claimed that it had cancelled the grant to India to boost “voter turnout”, a claim seconded by US President Donald Trump on multiple occasions.

IANS

New York: US President Donald Trump has once again questioned the Biden administration’s decision to allocate USD 21 million to India for “voter turnout”, guessing that they were trying to “get somebody else elected”.

Trump made these remarks while addressing the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami Thursday. He had raised similar concerns earlier, questioning the necessity of such financial aid.

Wednesday, he questioned the purpose of providing USD 21 million to India for “voter turnout” as he reiterated that the US “can hardly get in there” because of high Indian tariffs.

His remarks came after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk disclosed that USAID contributed USD 21 million to the Election Commission to boost voter turnout in India.

At the FII summit, Trump cited some examples to the audience about where their money was going before he became president. “These are random examples,” he said.

“…And USD 21 million for voter turnout in India. Why do we need to spend USD 21 million for voter turnout in India? Wow, I guess they (the Biden administration) were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government,” he said.

“Because, when we hear that, Russia spent about USD 2 in our country, it was a big deal…This is a total breakthrough, USD 21 million for Indian elections, and USD 29 million to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh… Asia is doing well, we don’t need to give them money,” he said.

He further said that these are just a few of the funding. The list is very long.

February 16, DOGE listed items on which the “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent” and the list included “USD 21M for voter turnout in India.”

DOGE noted that all of the items have been cancelled.

The list also included USD 29 million for “strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh”, USD 20 million for “fiscal federalism” and USD 19 million for “biodiversity conservation” in Nepal as well as USD 47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”.

The DOGE has been put in charge of overseeing workforce reduction across the government, and as part of that, Musk announced that he would shut down USAID, which is responsible for humanitarian efforts around the globe.

According to USAID officials February 7, all USAID humanitarian work worldwide was stopped, ABC News reported.

The agency’s website was shut down before Musk’s announcement. Later, a Trump-nominated judge announced a temporary restraining order that prevents the president and DOGE from placing 2,200 employees on administrative leave.

PTI

New York: The US Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk has announced a series of expenditure cuts, including USD 21 million allocated for “voter turnout in India.”

US President Donald Trump chose Musk to head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last month. Tasked with improving governance and curbing wasteful expenditures, the DOGE announced the cuts in a post on X Saturday.

The department said, “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all (of) which have been cancelled…”

The list included USD 486 million in grants to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening” including USD 22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and USD 21 million for “voter turnout in India”. No further details on the funding were given in the post.

This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US, during which he held talks with President Trump, as well as Musk.

The SpaceX CEO met Modi with his family, including three children. The two discussed opportunities in space, mobility, technology, and energy and exchanged notes on efforts at good governance in India and the US.

In its post, the DOGE also cancelled USD 29 million allocated to “strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh”, as well as USD 20 million for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal and USD 19 million for “biodiversity conversation” in the Himalayan nation.

It also announced cutting a USD 10 million grant for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”, USD 2.3 million for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia”, USD 32 million to the Prague Civil Society Centre, USD 40 million for “gender equality and women empowerment hub” and USD 14 million for “improving public procurement” in Serbia, among other expenditure cuts. It also included USD 47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”.

PTI

United Nations: The shutting down of USAID, a “critical partner” of the world organisation, will have an “immediate impact on lifesaving activities”, according to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“USAID is a critical partner, the US is a critical and generous partner for the United Nations in humanitarian development work”, he said Monday.

“This is having an immediate impact on lifesaving activities”, he said.

US President Donald Trump’s adviser and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk said Monday that Trump had agreed to shut down USAID, the main agency for foreign assistance.

Dujarric said there’s “a lot of UN-US participation on development issues” and the UN was in touch with various agencies to assess the impact of USAID shutting down to “try to get a bit of clarity in a foggy environment”.

“The US has been extremely generous to our humanitarian programmes all over the world”, he said.

“The US contributed 47 per cent of the global humanitarian appeal, which amounts to up to about $14 billion”, he said.

According to the USAID inspector general’s report, $25 billion was allocated by USAID for the UN and its agencies during the five years between 2019 and 2024.

The World Food Programme, which helps people facing starvation because of conflicts, famines and natural disasters. was the main beneficiary during this period, with $16.8 billion allocated for it.

The UN Children’s Fund came next with a $2.7 billion allocation among the 20 UN agencies receiving aid.

Trump is sceptic on multilateral cooperation and has announced that the US would be withdrawing from the World Health Organisation which has an allocation of $868 million.

IANS

Washington: Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who once was tapped to lead the new government efficiency office within the White House, will no longer take on the role as he prepares a run for Governor of Ohio, a White House official said.

This leaves the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, now under the purview of Elon Musk, who was spotted arriving at the White House Monday noon.

An official said Musk had received a White House pass and was expected to work out of the West Wing.

“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to the media.

Kelly cited Ramaswamy’s interest in running for Governor of Ohio as the reason he’s departing the committee tasked with exploring ways to trim the size of the federal government.

“He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today,” she said.

“We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last two months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”

After his departure, Ramaswamy called it an “honour” to have been a part of DOGE and teased an announcement about his political future.

“It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE,” he wrote on X.

“I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government.”

“I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!” he added.

Ramaswamy and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk were selected by President Trump last November to head up the new initiative, which is expected to work in tandem with the White House and its Office of Management and Budget.

The 39-year-old former Republican presidential primary candidate was criticised by several in MAGA circles last month over a social media post in which he argued that American “culture” was celebrating “mediocrity”.

“The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture,” Ramaswamy wrote in a lengthy post on X in support of foreign worker visas.

The Roivant Sciences founder went on to make the case that popular American culture has favoured “the prom queen over the math olympiad champ” and “the jock over the valedictorian” — putting the US behind other countries in terms of developing engineering talent.

Ramaswamy went noticeably quiet on social media after the immigration post, leading some to speculate about his status in Trumpworld.

The Ohio native was rumoured as a possible pick to replace Vice President JD Vance in the US Senate before Buckeye State Governor Mike DeWine tapped Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted for the role.

When a Ramaswamy parody account on X fooled several users into thinking he was launching a gubernatorial campaign in Ohio, the real Ramaswamy responded: “Not a bad idea, though.”

Ramaswamy attended the 78-year-old President’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol Monday.

IANS

Washington: After vowing to ‘go to war’ to defend the H-1B visa programme, tech billionaire Elon Musk has reignited debates surrounding the programme used to bring skilled foreign workers to the US by labelling it ‘broken’ and in urgent need of ‘major reform.’

Musk, along with Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, has been tapped by Trump to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Last week, Musk argued that foreign workers were needed for tech companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla.

“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H-1B,” Musk last week wrote on X.

Musk, however, appeared to retract his earlier statement in response to a post by an X user who said America needed to be a destination for the world’s most “elite talent” but argued the current H-1B system was not the solution.

“Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically. I’ve been very clear that the programme is broken and needs major reform,” Musk Sunday said in a post on X.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The tech industry has long called for more H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the US.

Musk, who was once on an H-1B visa and whose electric vehicle company Tesla has hired workers using the programme, defended the tech industry’s need to hire foreign workers.

“Anyone – of any race, creed or nationality – who came to America and worked like hell to contribute to this country will forever have my respect. America is the land of freedom and opportunity. Fight with every fibre of your being to keep it that way!” he wrote on X on December 28.

Musk’s statement also received backing from president-elect Donald Trump whose first administration restricted the programme in 2020, arguing that it allows businesses to replace Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.

However, Trump recently said: “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favour of the visas. That’s why we have them.”

Musk has been consistently posting on X in favour of the programme.

“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote December 25 on X.

Several of Trump’s supporters and immigration hardliners have been increasingly pushing for scrapping the H-1B visa programme amid debate over immigration.

The debate sparked when Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer, criticised Trump’s selection of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favours the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the US.

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.

The debate intensified when Ramaswamy criticised American culture for promoting mediocrity instead of focusing on academic excellence and success based on merit.

“Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritises achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness,” Ramaswamy said Thursday.

He faced backlash for the comment.

In response, Musk called for removing “contemptible fools” from the Republican Party who oppose his immigration agenda.

Musk later clarified that his statement was addressing the “hateful, unrepentant racists” he considers a threat to the Republican Party’s future.

PTI