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Billionaire Elon Musk rejects Washington Post article report claiming the Trump ally “launched his career by working illegally” in the United States early Sunday morning, claiming on his social media platform » – after President Joe Biden criticized Musk for the revelation. .

Key facts

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News

THE Washington Post reported Saturday that Musk did not have the legal right to work in the United States when he created Zip2, a business directory software company that sold for about $300 million 25 years ago. Musk planned to attend a graduate program at Stanford University in 1995, but the Post said he told the school two days into the semester that he would not attend — this which legal experts said would mean he would have had to leave the country. Musk acknowledged in a 2005 email obtained by the Post that he “didn’t really care about the degree” but “had no money for a lab and no legal right to stay in the country.” Derek Proudian, a Zip2 board member who later became CEO of the company, told the newspaper Musk and his brother Kimbal that “the immigration status was not what it should be for they are legally employed at the head of a business in the United States.” In 2013, Musk said his immigration status was “a gray area” at the start of their business, although his brother said both men “were illegal immigrants.”

Key context

Musk previously said he was “extremely pro-immigration” and had previously advocated that the United States “let in anyone… who is hard-working and honest and who will contribute.” However, Musk has become an increasingly vocal critic of the US immigration system. Bloomberg News reported that Musk is now the biggest promoter of anti-immigration conspiracies on Musk reiterated Trump’s baseless claims that Democrats are trying to get undocumented immigrants to vote illegally and supported his other debunked claims, reposting memes around Trump’s claim that Haitian immigrants in the Ohio were eating people’s pets.

Forbes Rating

Forbes estimates Musk was worth an estimated $274.7 billion as of 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, making him the richest person in the world.

Further reading

ForbesElon Musk, powerful critic of illegal immigrants, worked illegally in the US early in his career, report saysBy Antonio Pequeño IV
ForbesElon Musk