top line
According to the Washington Post, billionaire Elon Musk, a top surrogate for President Donald Trump, is a staunch opponent of illegal immigration and has been spreading misleading claims about the issue throughout the 2024 campaign. He started his career working illegally in Silicon Valley.
Musk echoed former President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration. (Photo credit: Anna … (+) Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Getty Images
important facts
Citing business associates, court records and company documents, the paper said Musk was a legal worker working in the U.S. while founding Zip2, a business directory software company sold 25 years ago for about $300 million. It was reported that he did not have the right to do so.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk dropped out of Stanford University’s graduate program as an international student in 1995 to work on his own startup instead.
Musk’s immigration status puts the company at risk of not receiving funding, the paper said, and the funding agreement between Zip2 and Mohr Davidow Ventures calls for Musk, his brother Kimbal and colleagues to He was given 45 days to secure legal work status or lose his job. Based on an investment of $3 million.
Derek Proudian, a Zip2 board member who later became the company’s chief executive officer, told the Post that Zip2’s investors did not want its founders to be deported and that the Musk brothers’ “immigration status” “They were not legally employed and should have been business owners.” It’s an American company.”
According to the newspaper, in a 2005 email to Tesla co-founders Martin Eberhardt and J.B. He acknowledged his eligibility and explained that he had applied to Stanford University to legally stay in the United States.
Representatives for Company X and Alex Spiro, one of Musk’s lawyers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes, and Musk has not yet responded to the article about X.
Get Text Alerts for Forbes Breaking News: Start text message alerts to stay informed of the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Send an “Alert” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Forbes rating
Musk is currently worth an estimated $274.7 billion, making him the richest person in the world.
big number
1,300. That’s the number of times Musk has posted about immigration and voter fraud this year, including 330 posts in the past two months, according to Bloomberg Technology. It is said to be the most frequent and most interesting post.
important quotes
“When they funded us, they realized we were illegal immigrants,” Kimbal said during a 2013 panel discussion with her brother. Elon tried to interject before Kimbal could again claim that the two brothers were immigrants from Zip2’s early days. Elon replied, “I think it’s a gray area.”
tangent
Musk described himself as “very pro-immigration” and advocated expanding the U.S. immigration system so that “anyone who is hard-working, honest, and a contributor can come into our country.”
Main background
According to Bloomberg, the spread of Musk’s misinformation is prevalent at Company X, where many of the fraudulent posts about immigrants and voters (about 70%) strongly promote misleading conspiracy theories or , Bloomberg reported, with a short response that included tacit support. The fraudulent posts coincided with election day approaching and people supporting and endorsing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Musk echoed President Trump’s misleading claims that the Democratic Party was trying to give illegal immigrants the right to vote, saying earlier this year that “the Democratic Party is a permanent party of increasing socialism (to the point of dispossession).” “We will import and legalize enough immigrants to ensure our control.” ) and oppressive. ” Despite concerns about noncitizens voting illegally, the study found that attempts to vote illegally were rare. Musk has also extended his anti-immigration stance to other countries, suggesting that a German humanitarian organization that rescued migrants in the Mediterranean last year violated the sovereignty of Italy, where the rescued migrants were released. did.
Read more
Musk finally announces bipartisan Senate bill, echoes right-wing rhetoric on immigration: What you need to know (Forbes)
Elon Musk attacks Germany over rescuing migrants, citing ‘atmosphere of invasion’ (Forbes)
