He said some Americans are not trained for those jobs, while critics say that bringing in foreign workers lowers salaries.
By Catholics for Catholics
President Donald Trump defended a controversial skilled worker visa program, claiming there are not enough qualified American workers to fill the required jobs, but critics say the system lowers the pay of native workers and reduces the employment opportunities.
In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week, Trump defended the H-1B skilled worker visa program, saying that there are not sufficiently capable American workers to fill the vacant jobs, and that it will take time to train enough domestic talent to meet the demand, according to The Epoch Times.
Trump’s remarks highlighted his administration’s effort to even out stricter immigration enforcement with the need to guarantee that U.S. businesses have access to the labor they need, particularly in high-skill industries facing shortages of qualified candidates.
As an example, Trump cited a recent immigration enforcement raid at a South Korean-owned battery plant in Georgia, adding that some industries need highly specialized workers.
“In Georgia, they raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out,” Trump said. “They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives. You know, making batteries [is] very complicated. It’s not an easy thing, and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, a lot of problems.”
Trump said that some of the South Koreans were training U.S. staff in the early stages of battery production to help get the plant running.
Breaking: Donald Trump defends H1B visa and immigration
— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) November 12, 2025
Trump: We definitely have to bring in talented people from around the world
Journalist: But we have talented people here in America
Trump: No, no we don’t. We don’t have certain talents
pic.twitter.com/SDi8Et1h1b
“You can’t just say a country is coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant, and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven’t worked in five years, and they’re going to start making missiles. It doesn’t work that way,” he said.
Ingraham countered Trump’s assertion about the H-1B visa program, saying that bringing in thousands of foreign workers would hurt efforts to raise wages for Americans.
“Well, I agree, but you also have to bring in talent when in a country—” he began.
But Ingraham cut in, “Well, we have plenty of talented people here.”
“No, you don’t,” Trump retorted. “No, you don’t have certain talents.”
He said that it takes time to build up the necessary skills to perform specialized work.
“You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory where we’re going to make missiles,’” he said.
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