WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 28 (Reuters) -

P resident-elect Donald Trump on Saturday sided with key

supporter and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk in a public dispute

over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program

for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump's remarks followed a series of social media posts from

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late

Friday to go to "war" to defend the visa program for foreign

tech workers.

Trump, who moved to limit the visas' use during his first

presidency, told The New York Post on Saturday he was likewise

in favor of the visa program.

"I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a

believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great

program," he was quoted as saying.

Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa, has

held an H-1B visa, and his electric-car company Tesla obtained

724 of the visas this year. H-1B visas are typically for

three-year periods, though holders can extend them or apply for

green cards.

The altercation was set off earlier this week by far-right

activists who criticized Trump's selection of Sriram Krishnan,

an Indian American venture capitalist, to be an adviser on

artificial intelligence, saying he would have influence on the

Trump administration's immigration policies.

Musk's tweet was directed at Trump's supporters and

immigration hard-liners who have increasingly pushed for the

H-1B visa program to be scrapped amid a heated debate over

immigration and the place of skilled immigrants and foreign

workers brought into the country on work visas.

On Friday, Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump confidante,

critiqued "big tech oligarchs" for supporting the H-1B program

and cast immigration as a threat to Western civilization.

In response, Musk and many other tech billionaires drew a

line between what they view as legal immigration and illegal

immigration.

Trump has promised to deport all immigrants who are in the

U.S. illegally, deploy tariffs to help create more jobs for

American citizens and severely restrict immigration.

The visa issue highlights how tech leaders like Musk -- who

has taken an important role in the presidential transition,

advising on key personnel and policy areas -- are now drawing

scrutiny from his base.

The U.S. tech industry relies on the government's H-1B visa

program to hire foreign skilled workers to help run its

companies, a labor force that critics say undercuts wages for

American citizens.

Musk has spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars

helping Trump get elected in November. He has posted regularly

this week about the lack of homegrown talent to fill all the

needed positions within American tech companies.