Kamal Ghorui
US right-wing commentator Natalie Winters has defended opposition to the H-1B visa programme, arguing that concerns about the visa system are economic rather than racial or xenophobic. Winters co-hosts the War Room podcast with Steve Bannon (Former Trump advisor) and said in a recent video that people claiming opposition to H-1Bs is rooted in white nationalism are “absurd.”“To say opposition to H-1Bs, which depress American wages, is rooted in white nationalism is absurd,” Winters said. She added, “America doesn’t have a white nationalism problem. If anything, we have an Indian nationalism problem.”Winters pointed to statistics showing that 70 per cent of H-1B visas go to Indian nationals. She contrasted this with other immigration flows, claiming that illegal immigration is largely from Mexico and that most student visas go to Chinese nationals.“This is about defending American workers,” she added, doubling down on her claim that the opposition to the H-1B programme is motivated by economic protectionism, not racism. Conservative supporters, ‘America First’ propagators and a lot of political figures in the MAGA base are often accused of being anti-Indian or pro-White. In the roughly three-minute video, Winters also criticised outsourcing, wage suppression in the technology sector, and other immigration policies that she believes disadvantage US citizens. She framed her argument as a defence of American labour against displacement and warned of what she called “foreign nationalism” influencing visa programmes.Winters is a self-described “populist nationalist” in the Republican Party and regularly critiques the mainstream media.H-1B visas in the United States are heavily concentrated among a few nationalities. According to official USCIS data, Indian nationals receive the largest share, accounting for around 70 per cent of all H-1B approvals in recent years. Chinese nationals hold the second-largest group, primarily among those in STEM and technology sectors. Other countries, including Canada, Philippines, and South Korea, make up smaller portions. The programme allows US companies to employ skilled foreign workers in speciality occupations like tech and defence.
