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By MICHELLE L. PRICE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Related Articles National Politics | Should the U.S. increase immigration levels for highly skilled workers? National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case National Politics | New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.

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A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House saysCecile Richards, daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards, awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

IIDFA Creates New Frontiers In The Cosmetology IndustrySPRINGFIELD — Vice President Kamala Harris won Illinois by nearly 11 points as turnout dipped in 2024, according to official election results certified by the State Board of Elections. The board met Monday to certify the results of the 2024 election and released final vote totals for races around the state, including locking in several close legislative races. The results also reflected shifts in turnout and voting behavior. Illinois saw turnout dip in 2024 compared to recent presidential contests. About 5.7 million people participated in this year’s election, representing 70.42% of the state’s 8.1 million registered voters. That’s a decline from 2020, when 72.92% of voters participated in the largest turnout for a presidential election in Illinois since 1992, according to the board. This year’s turnout was the fourth lowest of the last 40 years, according to the board. Turnout was slightly below President-elect Donald Trump’s first victory in 2016, but higher than former President Barack Obama’s victory in 2012. Chicago Board of Election officials reported last month the city saw the second lowest turnout in a presidential race in 80 years. The lower turnout in the November election also followed low turnout in the March primary, which featured uncontested presidential primaries in Illinois after challengers dropped out of the race by the time it was Illinois’ turn to vote. Voting by mail also remained a popular option for many voters, with more than 1 million people casting their ballot in the mail. That’s down from more than 2 million people in 2020, but it represents the third consecutive statewide election in which more than 15% of voters used a mail-in ballot. A greater portion of the electorate cast early in-person ballots this year than ever before, however. Board of Elections data shows 34.65% of votes were cast in-person before Election Day this year, surpassing 2020’s record of 32.89%. This year’s election was the second time most voters did not vote on Election Day. Data shows 46.69% of ballots were cast on Election Day itself, compared to about two-thirds in recent years. Most voters during the pandemic election in 2020 also participated early, either in person or by mail, rather than on Election Day. In the presidential race, Harris received 3,062,863 votes in Illinois, or 54.37% of the vote, to receive Illinois’ 19 electoral votes. That’s 409,052 fewer votes than President Joe Biden received in 2020. Though Harris won Illinois’ electoral votes by nearly 11 points this year, Trump narrowed his margin of defeat in Illinois after losing the state in both 2016 and 2020 by about 17 points. Harris’ 10.9-point victory was the smallest margin of victory for a Democratic presidential candidate since John Kerry won Illinois in 2004 by about 11 points. Trump improved his margin in Illinois on his way to an Electoral College and national popular vote victory for the first time. He received 2,158 more votes in 2024 compared to 2020. Despite Trump’s loss in the state, Republicans said they still believe the election results show a mandate in Illinois for their policies. “I think the people of Illinois, and moreover, the people of this country, have seen what the Democrats have done, especially over the last several years and how woke it has become,” Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, said at a news conference in November. “This is a clear mandate to that ridiculousness that has been going on the last four years.” Further down the ballot, results certified Monday finalized many close races in the Illinois House. The chamber’s balance is unchanged by the election and Democrats will hold a 78-member supermajority when lawmakers are sworn in on Jan. 8. “Democrats won every seat in the General Assembly that it already had, and we won in races that I think people didn’t expect — county board races, taking control of the McLean County Board, for example, coroner races,” Gov. JB Pritzker said last month reacting to the election results. “People clearly bifurcated and made decisions different down the ballot than they did at the top of the ballot, so I’m proud of that. I think that’s a result of the policies Democrats have had in Illinois.” Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, officially eked out a 47-vote victory in the 52nd House District in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago in a race House Democrats spent millions hoping to flip. Rep. Amy Grant, R-Wheaton, won a fourth term in the 47th House District in DuPage County by 292 votes. And Rep. Brandun Schweizer, R-Danville, was reelected by 269 votes in the 104th House District in Champaign and Vermillion counties. U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Moline, defeated former Winnebago County Republican judge Joe McGraw by 8.86 points in the 17th Congressional District, which was considered to be the state’s most competitive federal race. A majority of voters also supported three statewide advisory questions which asked about potential penalties for interfering with an election judge, a tax on millionaires to cover property tax relief and requiring insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin were among the first to welcome nearly 200 people who took part in a naturalization ceremony Wednesday in Springfield. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump’s political coalition