Trump 2.0 strategist backs Sriram Krishnan on green card debate: ‘He’s not a career leftist’

David Sacks, Donald Trump's ‘AI and Crypto Czar’ nominee, on Tuesday hit back at Laura Loomer, a journalist and activist, for labelling Sriram Krishnan, Indian-American AI Policy Advisor, as a “career leftist.”

In a post on X, Laura criticised Sriram Krishnan's appointment in the Donald Trump administration. The far-right activist targeted the Chennai-born techie over his views on H-1B visa and green card policy reforms. Laura Loomer claimed that Krishnan's views are “in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda.”

“How will we control immigration in our country and promote America First innovation when Trump appointed this guy who wants to REMOVE all restrictions on green card caps in the United States so that foreign students (which makes up 78% of the employees in Silicon Valley) can come to the US and take jobs that should be given to American STEM students,” wrote Loomer in her post on X.

Laura Loomer's remarks came after Sriram Krishnan advocated for the removal of country caps in green card allocation to skilled immigrants. 

Backing Sriram Krishnan's stance, David Sacks responded to Loomer's post and clarified that Krishnan doesn't want to remove all caps on green cards.

Sacks highlighted the problem in the present green card allocation system, where “every country in the world gets allocated the same number of green cards, no matter how many qualified applicants it has.”

Skill-based criteria for receiving green card

“Sriram still supports skills-based criteria for receiving a green card, not making the program unlimited. He wants to make the program entirely merit-based. Supporting a limited number of highly skilled immigrants is still a prevalent view on the right. Sriram is definitely not a “career leftist”!” David Sacks replied on Laura Loomer's post.

His comments also received support from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who wrote, “Makes sense.”

Who is Sriram Krishnan?

Sriram Krishnan, 41, is an Indian-born techie who has worked with several high-profile companies, including Meta, Twitter/X, and Microsoft. He was recently a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and is a personal investor in over two dozen companies, including SpaceX, Figma, and Scale.ai.

Krishnan has a Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology from SRM Engineering College, Anna University, Tamil Nadu. He and his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy, host the podcast “The Aarthi and Sriram Show.”

Sriram Krishnan's stance on H-1B visa programme

Sriram Krishnan's appointment by the Trump administration has sparked controversy because of his stance on the H-1B visa programme. He has been an ardent supporter of the expansion of the H-1B visa programme and the removal of country cap quotas for green cards. 

A few weeks ago, Krishnan advocated for government reforms to allow “H-1B visa cardholders to start companies or transition to entrepreneur visas.”

After being nominated by the Donald Trump administration as senior White House policy adviser on AI, Krishnan acknowledged the offer and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity, saying, “I'm honoured to be able to serve our country and ensure continued American leadership in AI working closely with @DavidSacks . Thank you @realDonaldTrump for this opportunity.”