Bernie Sanders slams H-1B visas, says they are used to 'replace' Americans with cheap foreign labor

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Thursday slammed Elon Musk for endorsing the H-1B Visa program, arguing that it is harmful to American workers.

"Elon Musk is wrong," Sanders wrote on the social media platform, X. "The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire 'the best and the brightest,' but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad."

Over the holiday break, a debate broke out among some in the MAGA movement, Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over the H-1B visa program. 

The conversation heated up when Ramaswamy posted Thursday that the main reason tech companies hire foreign-born and first-generation engineers over “native” Americans is due to an American educational culture that promotes mediocrity instead of striving for excellence.

"The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make," Sanders said. 

Musk, co-head along with Ramaswamy of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, posted on social media platform X Friday night, that "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 H1B."