In 2013, when Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal were talking to a group of business leaders about starting their first company, the conversation seemed to go off script. Kimbal, who is from South Africa, said the brothers lacked legal immigration status when they started their business in the United States.
“The fact is, when they did fund us, they realized we were illegal immigrants,” Kimbal said, according to a taped interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
“I would say it’s a gray area,” Elon replied with a laugh.
Eleven years later, Elon returned to the Milken Institute in Beverly Hills last month to talk about immigration again. This time, he described the southern border as a zombie apocalypse and said the legal immigration process was long and “Kafkaesque.”
“I’m a staunch supporter of immigration, but large-scale unvetted immigration would spell disaster,” Musk said at the conference. “So I favor dramatically speeding up legal immigration but also having a secure southern border.”
Musk, the most economically successful immigrant in the United States and the third richest man in the world, often reiterates his view that legal immigration to the United States is difficult but illegal entry is “trivial and quick.” What he left out: Seeking asylum is a legal right under national and international law, regardless of how a person arrived on U.S. soil.
But as an election year approaches and Republicans make border security a major campaign theme, Musk’s rhetoric on immigration has become increasingly extreme. The SpaceX and Tesla executive, who acquired social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, has sometimes used his giant microphone to promote racist conspiracies and spread misinformation about immigration laws.
Musk’s business manager did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for SpaceX and Tesla. X’s department did not respond to inquiries from the news media.
While Musk’s point is clear, what’s more ambiguous is his influence. Some see him as an influential opinion maker with the power to set policy and influence voters, while others see him as a social media bomb-thrower heard primarily in conservative echo chambers.
“If you haven’t heard it, I’m sure you’ve seen members of Congress quoting Elon Musk and pointing out his tweets, it’s a scary concept,” Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragán (D-San Pedro), who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
She said she believes Musk has influence over her Republican colleagues, who are “always looking for new anti-immigration talking points.”
Polls show that immigration is the top issue for voters. Respondents to Gallup’s April open-ended poll ranked it as the most important issue facing the United States for the third month in a row
The November election is set to feature a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Trump, which will be the first presidential race since Musk acquired X. Violent and banned from accessing X website.
Last week, Musk used the platform to defend Trump following his criminal conviction for falsifying records in a hush-money scheme. “Public confidence in the American legal system was greatly damaged today,” Musk wrote on X, calling Trump’s crimes “trivial.”
After meeting with Trump in March, Musk Tell that to former CNN anchor Don Lemon He is “distancing himself” from Biden, but doesn’t plan to support Trump yet. He also said he would not donate to any presidential campaign.
Campaign contribution records show Musk regularly donated to both Republicans and Democrats before 2020. While he was mayor of San Francisco, they never discussed immigration at all.
“I think people have developed very strong opinions on this subject,” Newsom said. “I don’t know that he’s influencing this debate in a disproportionate way. No one’s ever said, ‘Hey, did you see what Elon said about immigration?
How Musk talks about immigration on X
Musk last year Visited the Eagle Pass, Texas Bordermet with local politicians and law enforcement to get what he called an “unfiltered” view of the situation.
he still Help spread viral stories False claim that the Biden administration is “secretly” flying hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the United States to reduce border arrivals.
“This administration is both importing voters and creating a national security threat from unvetted illegal immigration,” Musk said. wrote on X on March 5. “It could very well be that the groundwork is being laid for something worse than 9/11.”
But the migrants were flown on commercial flights under a plan developed by the Biden administration to exercise the president’s authority to temporarily admit people for humanitarian reasons. The program allows up to 30,000 vetted people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to immigrate legally to the United States each month and obtain work permits if they have a financial sponsor.
Contrary to Musk’s claims that the administration is seeking Democratic voters, there is no path to citizenship for those arriving under the program. This narrative promotes extremist ideologies such as grand substitution theorya racist conspiracy, a conspiracy to reduce the white population.
In September, Elon Musk wore a black Stetson hat and broadcast live from Eagle Pass, Texas, while visiting the southern border. Musk toured the border along the Rio Grande with Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas).
(John Moore/Getty Images)
Earlier this year, Musk targeted controversial bill The California Legislature will use state funds to help immigrants with serious or violent felony convictions fight deportation. Rep. Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) withdrew the bill after Republicans blasted it on social media and brought it to Musk’s attention. Who wrote this on X: “When is enough?”
In February, shortly after a bipartisan group of senators unveiled details of a long-negotiated border security bill, Musk again echoed the Great Replacement theory, write on X: “The long-term goal of the so-called “Border Security” bill is to allow illegal immigrants to vote! This is the exact opposite of ensuring border security.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., fired back.
“No, the point of it is not to try to get more illegals to vote,” Lankford said CNN. “This is ridiculous.”
Musk’s immigration journey
Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney, professor and co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said Musk was particularly ironic in attacking the program, which has humanitarian grounds The reasons allow for restrictions on entry, and he also expresses his support for legal immigration. The program provides would-be immigrants a legal way to reach the United States and reduces the number of people arriving at the border from beneficiary countries.
“It shows a lot of confusion about a pretty basic point about immigration laws and how policy works,” Arullanantham said. He added that Musk’s lack of criticism of similar plans for Ukrainians was illustrative. Attacks on Latino immigration programs come with an undercurrent of racism.
Arula Nansom said that Musk’s amplification of false information is counterproductive to reasonable immigration policies.
“Each sound adds to the pile of sounds, and the louder the sound, the louder it adds,” Arullanantham said. “His voice is loud.”
David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine who studies platform censorship, said Musk’s promotion of misleading or false statements, including about immigration, is concerning because he can do so in a way that others cannot. way affects the dialogue on X.
“There’s already a pretty strong alarmist attitude about immigration, so Musk might just add fuel to that fire,” Kay said. “But the fact is he has a lot of followers. To the extent that he promotes false information, I think that raises concerns about having a fair and fact-driven debate on immigration in the United States.
Walter Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk” tells Musk’s own immigration story. Isaacson wrote that Musk left South Africa in 1989 for Canada, where his mother had relatives. In college, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and upon graduation attended Stanford University, but immediately requested a deferment.
He and his brother Kimbal invented an interactive web directory service, like the predecessor to Google Maps.
Just before pitching the idea to a venture capital firm, Kimbal was stopped at the airport on his way back from Toronto by U.S. border officials. “He looked in his luggage for company literature, business cards and other documents. Because he didn’t have a U.S. job,” Kimbal said. visa, so they wouldn’t let him board the plane. So a friend picked him up and drove him into the United States after telling another border officer they were watching the David Letterman show.
After completing the investment, the company found immigration attorneys to help the Musk brothers obtain work visas, Isaacson said.
After Musk married his first wife, he obtained U.S. citizenship and was sworn in at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in 2002.
Nuwexler, who has worked in policy communications for tech companies and congressional Democrats, said Musk’s recent comments on immigration and other political topics appear to be a reversal of views from a decade ago.
Wexler recalls Musk Leave Fwd.usIt is a political action organization led by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2013 to advocate for immigration reform. Musk left because Fwd.us supported conservative lawmakers who wanted immigration reform but supported oil drilling and other policies that ran counter to Musk’s environmental priorities.
“I agree with supporting Fwd.us because there is a real need to reform immigration. However, this should not come at the expense of other important causes,” Musk told news site AllThingsD at the time.
Wexler said that when Zuckerberg founded Fwd.us, it made smart business sense for tech executives to make a business case for immigration reform. Now, immigration is a more divisive issue, and senior leftists are less willing to get involved in politics.
“To some extent, he thinks being the protagonist helps build his brand,” Wexler said of Musk. “I don’t know if he’s going to change his mind about immigration, although he might be able to ignite the base.”
Alex Conant, a Republican consultant and partner at public affairs firm Firehouse Strategies, said Musk’s influence could grow if Trump wins the election. If an immigration bill takes shape by then, Musk’s support or rejection could influence the debate, he said.
“In this case, he might suddenly have some power,” he said.
There seems to be growing evidence that this is possible. Trump and Musk have discussed a possible advisory role for the billionaire, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. If Trump returns to the White House, Musk could provide formal input on border security policy.
Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.
