A MAGA Civil War Or A Course Correction?
If you value articles like this, sign up for our daily email newsletter and support us with a donation.
In the days leading up to Christmas, a long-expected fault line emerged within the recently-broadened MAGA movement, where the nationalist core of the movement found themselves opposed to the newly-arrived corporate donors.
However, high-profile endorsements of Krishnan's immigration perspectives from Elon Musk, David Sacks and Vivek Ramaswamy, ignited a fierce backlash among grassroots conservatives and anti-immigration hardliners.
Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend the visa system, arguing it was vital for maintaining America's competitive edge in the global technology race. Musk's remarks were amplified by Ramaswamy, who criticized American cultural attitudes, claiming they too often venerate mediocrity over excellence. But their words sparked outrage among the MAGA base, who accused the tech elite of undermining American workers for corporate profit.
As the debate escalated, prominent MAGA voices like Laura Loomer, Mike Cernovich and many others blasted both Musk and Ramaswamy for pushing for greater mass immigration when Trump hasn't even taken office yet. Numerous revelations have been uncovered of abuse of the various legal immigration systems that exist and how tens of millions of American workers are being excluded from the job market in favor of foreign, predominantly Indian and Chinese immigrants.
Krishnan himself was a recipient of the H-1B visa program; a program that is meant to provide temporary skilled labor to American companies that cannot find enough skilled labor for critical projects. However, as was uncovered during the days following the debate, this program, along with many others, has been abused to undercut American wages and mass-import foreign citizens who then intentionally discriminate against American workers to bring in more of their countrymen to take American jobs.
While these may sound like wild accusations, famous cases expose just how rampant these programs are and how they are being abused by big US corporations and foreign citizens to usurp American corporations and slowly conquer America.
Nearly every major company has been doing this, some for decades. After moving the company's headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas in December 2021, Elon Musk's Tesla fired 2,600 Texas-based employees shortly after receiving 2,600 H-1B visas.
Attorneys at the Federation for American Immigration have pointed out that, "Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their jobs because of the abuse of the H1B & the immigration system." Meanwhile numerous journalists from Laura Ingraham to Michelle Malkin, to Sean Hannity, and even Bernie Sanders, have all called out the abuses of these programs over the last few years. Because this was such an obvious concern, many in MAGA were shocked over the seemingly glaring betrayal by the tech tycoons on this issue.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
When the "Hart-Celler" Act was being debated in Congress, the lead supporter of the bill, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), promised concerned Americans that the bill (proposed by Senator Philip Hart (D-Mich.) and Congressman Emanuel Celler (D-NY.) "[would] not flood our cities with immigrants."
On the floor of the Congress he promised, "It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
These sentiments were echoed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson (D), who said the bill would not be revolutionary: "It does not affect the lives of millions … It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives or add importantly to either our wealth or our power." Of course, anyone who has eyes is aware that this promise, like so many political promises, was a complete lie.
Sixty years and approximately 120 million immigrants later, America's wealth, power and national unity are noticeably strained.
It is this last issue that sparked the heated immigration debate that took place on X over the Christmas season.
The Hart-Celler Act was not the last time American trust would be betrayed by their government in favor of outsiders.
REAGAN'S CONTRIBUTION
in 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers. But the bill also gave amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who'd entered the country before 1982.
As former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, one of the lead authors of Reagan's immigration reform bill, told NPR, "We used the word 'legalization … and everybody fell asleep lightly for a while, and we were able to do legalization."
While 3 million illegals gained amnesty from Reagan, the strict sanctions on employers were stripped out of the bill in order for it to pass. In other words, Americans got more immigration without the "crackdown." In fact, according to The Washington Post, the number of illegals increased by millions in the decades following Reagan's amnesty.
CREATION OF THE H-1B PROGRAM
The H-1B visa program was established as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, a bipartisan effort led (once again) by Senator Ted Kennedy and then-President George H.W. Bush.
Kennedy claimed the bill was needed to address workforce shortages. President Bush then signed the bill into law, touting the economic benefits of skilled worker immigration, framing it as essential for maintaining the United States' global competitiveness, much like the Silicon Valley tycoons did on Christmas. However, the reality back then was very much the same as it is today. The majority of these visas were given to 3rd world immigrants who, after arriving, had to then be trained by their more skilled American counterparts, whose jobs they then took. An action that, as mentioned previously, has become standard practice in corporate America today.
The program nearly tripled the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country, from 270,000 to 700,000; and helped permit the entry of 20 million people over the next two decades (1990-2010), the largest number recorded in any 20 year period since the nation's founding.
As of June 2024, 32 million foreign born workers are employed in the United States, approximating 19% of the entire US workforce. While Tech owners push Trump to open the floodgates of the global labor market even further, the last 4 years saw over 1 million Americans laid off from tech jobs alone.
But that is hardly the end of the story …
Arthur is a former editor and consultant. Born in India to missionary parents, he spent his early career working in development for NGOs in Asia, Central America, and Africa.
Arthur has an educational background in history and psychology, with certifications from the University of Oxford and Leiden in the economics, politics, and ethics of mass migration and comparative theories in terrorism and counterterrorism. He is currently launching CivWest, a company focused on building capital to fund restorative projects and create resilient systems across the Western world.
Editor's note:
HOW SOULS AND LIBERTY WILL MOVE FORWARD THE NEXT FOUR YEARS
There can be no doubt we have witnessed an extraordinary moment in the history of the United States and the world. The election of Donald Trump to a second Presidential term is a great victory for Christian patriots, but it is not a complete or final victory. Rather, it is a reprieve from the ceaseless assaults on life, liberty and faith we have had to endure for four years.
Donald Trump will be president once again in a matter of weeks. Even now, his decisions, Cabinet selections, and force of personality are shaping the United States and the world in ways we could only dream of.
We have a Heaven-sent opportunity to step up and ensure this victory is not merely a one-off, but the first of many and the foundation of a lasting legacy of patriotic, Christian, pro-family policies.
Souls and Liberty will be part of that effort, but we cannot do it without you. It will require reporting and activism that YOU can be a part of.
Can you step up and support us? Just once – a one-time donation is very valuable. Or, better yet, support us every month with a recurring donation. Thank you, and may God bless you.
Stephen Wynne
Editor-in-Chief, Souls and Liberty
