New York: US President Donald Trump defended the H-1B visa programme, saying America has to bring in talent from around the world because it lacks "certain talents" in the country, marking a change from his previous stance.

In an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Trump was asked whether the H-1B visa issue would be a top priority for his administration and how raising wages for American workers requires the country not to be flooded with hundreds of thousands of foreign workers. He responded, saying, "I agree, but you also have to bring in talent." 

When Ingraham noted that "we have plenty of talent", Trump said, "No, you don't, no, you don't. You don't have certain talents. And people have to learn."

"You can't take people off an unemployment line, and say, 'I'm going to put you into a factory, we're going to make missiles, '" Trump added.

"You can't just say a country is coming in, going to invest USD 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," the president said.

The Trump administration has launched a massive crackdown to curb abuse in the H-1B visa programme, which companies, particularly technology companies, use to employ foreign workers in the US.

Indian professionals, including technology workers and physicians, are among the largest cohort of H-1B visa holders.

In September this year, Trump issued a Proclamation titled 'Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers' as an essential initial step to reform the H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme.

Under the Proclamation, certain H-1B petitions filed after September 21, 2025, must be accompanied by an additional USD 100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.

Last week, the Trump administration launched about 175 investigations into H-1B visa abuse, including lapses such as low wages, nonexistent work sites, and the practice of "benching" employees.

"As part of our mission to protect American Jobs, we've launched 175 investigations into H-1B abuse," the US Department of Labour had said in a post on X. It added that under the leadership of President Trump and Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the agency will continue taking action to put American workers first.

Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X that the Labour Department "is using every resource at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B abuse and protect American Jobs. Under the leadership of @POTUS, we'll continue to invest in our workforce and ensure high-skilled job opportunities go to American Workers FIRST!".