President Donald Trump’s latest comments insisting that H-1B workers are needed to help train Americans for semiconductor manufacturing jobs appear to clash with years of documented cases in which American workers said they were forced to train H-1B visa holders who later replaced them.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said the United States lacks enough skilled domestic workers in certain fields, particularly semiconductors, and must import talent until Americans can be retrained.
“We don’t make chips too much here anymore,” Trump said, adding that the country would soon reclaim “a big portion of the chip market,” but must “train our people to make chips,” according to Newsweek.
Those remarks came after Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that “you also do have to bring in talent,” rejecting her assertion that the United States has “plenty of talented people.”
“No, you don’t, no you don’t,” Trump said.
The comments represent a sharp contrast to Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to eliminate the type of H-1B practices that forced Americans to train their replacements.
“I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements,” Trump said in March 2016. “I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program.”
Workers in multiple industries have alleged similar experiences.
A 2015 analysis published by the Economic Policy Institute described how 250 Disney workers “were forced to train” their foreign replacements and that thousands more across utilities, energy companies, and manufacturers faced the same outcome.
The authors cited wage savings of up to 49% for companies using the program and argued that “corporate executives will leave on the table the easy profits they get from replacing Americans workers with cheaper guestworkers.”
A “60 Minutes” report later showed American workers describing the “knowledge transfer” process in which they said they had to train incoming H-1B employees on the tasks they would later assume. One former Northeast Utilities employee, Craig D’Angelo, said he did not lose his job due to lack of work but because “somebody cheaper could do my job,” according to an interview broadcast by CBS.
The issue is resurfacing now as technology firms expand chip-related operations and continue hiring under the H-1B system.
The leading semiconductor manufacturer in the United States is Nvidia, according to Z2 Data. Federal data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services H-1B Data Hub indicates that Nvidia had been approved for 1,767 H-1B visas through the end of September 2025.
While most positions Nvidia files applications for could arguably be connected to technical semiconductor work, an examination of Labor Condition Applications recorded in a privately maintained H-1B salary database shows that the company also applies for roles including business analyst, analyst, account manager, and business development manager. These jobs are not inherently tied to the technical aspects of chip manufacturing.
Nvidia’s chief executive said earlier this year that the company intends to continue paying the new $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa, according to The Dallas Express.
Trump’s critics argue that such examples undermine his claim that foreign workers are essential only for high-skilled or highly specialized roles. Supporters of the program, including many in the technology and manufacturing sectors, such as SpaceX CEO, claim that the United States urgently needs global talent to compete.
Several Republicans who oppose the program have already pushed back. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene recently posted on X that she plans to introduce legislation to “END the mass replacement of American workers.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Republicans “could legislate elimination of H-1B” and should focus on “deeds, not words.”
The President’s continued support for the program signals an ongoing divide inside the Republican Party over whether H-1B visas strengthen the workforce or undermine it.
While Republicans argue over the merits of the visa, some Democrats have begun shaming Republicans for their support of the program. Ohio Democrat Gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton has repeatedly slammed her Republican challenger, Vivek Ramaswamy, over his emphatic support for the visa program, DX reported.