News
The DOGE crowd and MAGA loyalists are in a messy feud over immigration
- Pro-Trump tech leaders and MAGA loyalists are feuding over how to overhaul US immigration.
- A debate over high-skill immigration intensified between the two groups in recent days.
- The debate came after Trump’s appointment of an Indian-born tech leader as a senior policy advisor.
President-elect Donald Trump’s backers in Silicon Valley are at odds with his MAGA loyalists over a key issue: immigration.
In recent days, Elon Musk and others in the tech sector have increasingly shared support for visas that allow companies to hire highly-skilled workers from overseas. The move has riled up Trump backers in favor of stricter immigration rules in the process.
The recent debate came after Trump offered Sriram Krishnan, a Chennai-born, Indian-American investor, a role as a senior policy advisor for artificial intelligence — a move that triggered heated criticisms online.
Krishnan, who was recently in London leading an expansion of venture capital firm A16z’s — previously lived in the US, where he completed stints at Microsoft, Twitter, and Meta from 2005.
Criticisms have largely come from anonymous accounts online — one X post asked if anyone had voted “for this Indian to run America,” prompting a defense from Trump’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks.
They also prompted a wider debate on the merits of the H-1B visa commonly used to employ skilled workers from other countries.
Tech leaders such as Musk, who have been deeply critical of illegal immigration, have used the saga to defend immigration that prioritizes the transfer of high-skilled foreign workers into American companies.
On Thursday, Musk said his priority was bringing in top engineering talent legally — saying it is “essential for America to keep winning.”
“Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct,” he wrote on X.
Musk’s co-lead at the Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy, also took to X on Thursday. He argued that tech companies often hire foreign-born engineers, saying it allowed them to avoid what he called an American culture that has “venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.”
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he wrote in an almost 400-word post.
In a later post, he said immigration rules should be reformed more effectively to funnel talent to the US. The H-1B system was not effective, he said, and “should be replaced with one that focuses on selecting the very best of the best.”
Marc Benioff, the boss of Salesforce, also weighed in, offering a solution to keep the “best and brightest” foreign students in the US after graduation: “Can we staple a US green card to every degree earned at an American university?”
The pro-immigration messages haven’t gone down well with everyone in the Trump pack.
Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who Trump briefly put forward to be his Attorney General, wrote an X post on Thursday saying that tech figures should butt out.
When Republicans embraced them, he said, “We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy.”
Meanwhile, far-right activist and Trump supporter Laura Loomer used several posts to express strong opposition to H-1B visas and her concerns over the “replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants.”
Where Trump will land on the issue remains to be seen. Immigration lawyers have warned tech workers that a “storm is coming” with the arrival of a second Trump term, and suggested those who have left to get back before it’s too late.
The debate signals a deep divide between different groups of Trump supporters as he prepared to take office.
US negotiators to head to Pakistan and Iranian cargo ship seized – a recappublished at 00:37 BST 20 April
Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday
Here’s a recap of the latest developments.
US negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday with the intention of holding further talks on ending the war, Trump says – but Iranian state media cites unnamed officials as saying Tehran has “no plans for now to participate”.
The prospect of further high-level negotiations – a White House official says Vice-President JD Vance will attend – comes amid reports of fresh attacks on commercial vessels.
Trump says the navy intercepted and took “custody” of an Iranian tanker attempting to pass through the US blockade, “blowing a hole” in the ship’s engine room in the process.
Earlier, in the same post announcing his representatives would travel for more talks, Trump renewed his threat to destroy Iranian energy sites and bridges if no deal is reached.
Reports in Iranian media over the weekend suggest Iran is continuing to work on plans to potentially apply a toll to ships passing through the strait – although it’s unclear if such a move will be implemented.
Iranian state TV cites unnamed officials as saying that “continuation of the so-called naval blockade, violation of the ceasefire and threatening US rhetoric” are slowing progress in reaching an agreement.
Trump also accused Iran of violating the ceasefire, saying more commercial ships have been attacked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
A UK maritime agency reported two commercial ships came under fire in the strait on Saturday.
Iran’s foreign minister had said on Friday that the strait would be opened – which was shortly followed by Trump saying the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a deal is reached. Iran has since said the strait is closed again.
new video loaded: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say
By Christina Kelso
April 19, 2026
An aerial view shows damage from a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Communities across the Upper Midwest are cleaning up after tornadoes and severe weather impacted the region over the weekend, damaging and destroying dozens of homes and knocking out power for tens of thousands.
“Numerous” severe storms were tracked across parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. At least 66 tornado reports were submitted in multiple states including Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa, the NWS Quad Cities IA/IL office said Sunday.
No deaths have been reported from the severe weather and tornado outbreak.
In Marion Township in Minnesota, about 30 homes were damaged and a dozen have significant damage because of a tornado, according to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. The tornado also damaged at least 20 homes in Stewartville and there is a temporary shelter in Rochester for people displaced by the storms, according to MPR News.
“Tornado disaster recovery continues to occur at full speed,” the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said on Saturday.
In Illinois, McClean County officials declared a disaster emergency because of severe storms in Bloomington. “At this time, no injuries have been reported, and emergency response agencies remain actively engaged to ensure public safety and continuity of essential services,” officials said in a statement.
But further north in the village of Lena, an EF-2 tornado caused the “most significant damage” where “many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees uprooted, and power lines downed,” the NWS said. Numerous roads have also been blocked by debris, the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office also said.
People continue to clean up following a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Scott Olson/Getty Images
There have been no fatalities and no reports of serious injuries associated with the storm, Chief Deputy Andy Schroeder from the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office told NPR on Sunday.
More than 43,000 customers lost power in Illinois but power was restored to almost all of them by Saturday night, according to electric utility ComEd.
Several tornadoes also occurred across Wisconsin, according to the NWS office in La Crosse. Twenty-six tornado warnings were issued by the office on Friday, the most in one day since the weather service office was built in 1995.
In one Marathon County town, 75 homes were destroyed by a tornado, according to Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman.
“It took out a whole residential area,” Kielman said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
The American Red Cross of Wisconsin said volunteers are helping those impacted by the storm with meals, shelter and support.
Parts of the state are still dealing with multiple rounds of severe weather and tornadoes from earlier in the week that brought flooding to some communities.
-
Delaware3 minutes agoViVA Awards luncheon celebrates service across Delaware County
-
Georgia15 minutes agoGeorgia Tech salvages finale vs. North Carolina ahead of UGA matchup
-
Hawaii21 minutes agoHawaii Snorkel Tour Hits Rough Waters After Tourtist Allegedly Stabs Boat Captain | Oxygen
-
Idaho27 minutes agoThe Camas Prairie is Biblical Idaho
-
Illinois33 minutes agoHas Trump’s approval dropped in Illinois amid Pope Leo feud? See polls
-
Indiana39 minutes agoOp-ed: Healthy rural communities strengthen all of Indiana
-
Iowa44 minutes agoSen. Chuck Grassley shares he’s recovering from gallstone surgery
-
Kentucky57 minutes agoKentucky will get a visit from a forward with three-point upside