Trump maintains his stance on H-1B visas amidst ongoing debate among MAGA coalition members.

Amid a heated debate among Republicans over the H-1B visa program, President-elect Donald Trump stated that he remains firm in his stance on the issue and believes the U.S. requires skilled workers to enter the country.

"I haven't changed my stance. I've always believed that our country needs the most skilled individuals, and we must have competent people," Trump stated during a gathering at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday evening. "We require intelligent people to enter our country. We need a significant influx of individuals. We're going to have an unprecedented number of job opportunities as a result."

The H-1B visa program enables U.S. businesses to recruit foreign professionals for specialized jobs, primarily in the tech sector. Despite its widespread use, the program remains contentious among some conservatives, who argue that it is exploited by tech companies to import inexpensive, predominantly Indian, workers to displace American employees.

"H1B is the reason I'm in America, along with many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong, as Musk stated on X," said Musk.

H1-B visas are being "misused," according to Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., as stated on Planet Chronicle Sunday.

The H-1B program has been abused, as evidenced by the sons and daughters of factory workers who lost their jobs and obtained white-collar jobs as accountants, only to train their foreign replacements, who are undercutting their wages.

Trump has previously expressed doubts about the H-1B visa program. During his 2016 presidential campaign, he pledged to address the program's misuse and cited instances of companies making American workers train their cheaper foreign replacements.

In 2016, he stated that the H-1B program is not about high-skilled immigration but rather temporary foreign workers brought in from abroad to replace American workers at lower wages. He is fully committed to putting an end to the widespread abuse of the H-1B program and to putting an end to practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida, where Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements.

He declared that he would put an end to the use of the H-1B program as a means of cheap labor and make it mandatory to prioritize American workers for every visa and immigration program, with no exceptions.

He stated that his companies utilize the H-1B program, and he believes he should not be permitted to utilize it.

The administration promptly started investigating changes to the H-1B visa program and, in 2020, proposed a comprehensive rule that would prioritize the selection of higher-paid applicants for the approximately 85,000 visas allotted annually.

The visa allocation process would prioritize registrations at the highest wage level first, followed by level III, and so on until all spaces are filled.

According to the rule, since the demand for H-1B visas has surpassed the annual supply for over a decade, DHS favors allocating cap-subject H-1B visas to those who earn the highest wages in relation to their Standard Occupational Classification codes and intended employment areas.

The Biden administration abandoned a rule put into effect by the previous administration, which proposed changes to the definition of "specialty occupation" and the way the "prevailing wage" is set. This move was met with approval from immigration hawks.

The Trump administration has not yet stated its plans regarding H-1B, but Musk has suggested increasing the minimum salary and adding an annual maintenance cost, making it more expensive to hire foreign workers.

On Saturday, he stated that the program requires significant changes as it is faulty.

Trump praised the program as "great" in an interview with the New York Post.

Trump stated, "I've always supported visas, and that's why we have them."

"I have utilized H-1B visas on my properties and have been a staunch supporter of the program. It's an exceptional initiative."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.