TOI correspondent from Washington: Tesla And EspaceX big boss Elon Musk mocks reports that he started his tech career illegally in the United States after dropping out of college, even as he lashes out at illegal immigrationclaiming that “it is literally easier for a serial killer to enter America than for a Nobel Prize winner.”
An in-depth investigation by US media this week into Musk’s admitted sketchy immigration status, which confirmed an illegal start to his career, was echoed by the president. Joe Bidenwho said at a campaign event in Pittsburgh that the world’s richest man was an illegal worker after dropping out of college.
“He was supposed to be at school when he arrived on a student visa. He wasn’t at school. He was breaking the law. He’s talking about all these ‘illegals’ coming at us,” Biden said.
“So NOW he cares about illegal immigrants,” Musk replied on X, with two laughing emojis, without confirming or denying the information.
Separately, while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania, Musk called for “common-sense immigration… quick and easy legal immigration for honest, hard-working, talented people,” saying, “It’s easier to enter this country as an assassin rather than as a Nobel Prize winner. Winner.” He hoped that the responsibility for streamlining the management of legal immigration would be entrusted to a competent company, “because the bureaucracy is completely broken.”
According to a Washington Post investigation, Musk arrived in the United States to attend graduate school at Stanford in 1995, but did not enroll in the program he was accepted to. Instead, he launched a venture-backed startup called Zip2 with his brother Kimball, eventually selling the company for around $300 million in 1999.
The newspaper cites investors and the Zips 2 financing agreement which states that the Musk brothers and an associate had 45 days to obtain legal employment status. Otherwise, the venture capital firm could recoup its investment. “Their immigration status was not what it should be for them to be legally employed running a business in the United States. We do not want our founder deported,” said one member of the board of directors at the time, cited by the newspaper.
It is not uncommon for international students to lose their status during their time in the United States, particularly as they transition into the workforce. But strictly speaking, they cannot establish a business or generate income or profits without legal status.
Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal have joked about their illegal status early in their careers in interviews in the past, starting with their Zip2 adventure.
“Actually, when they funded us, they realized we were illegal immigrants,” Kimbal said in the 2013 interview.
“Well…” Elon said.
“Yes, we were,” Kimbal said.
“I would say it was a gray area,” Elon replied, to laughter from the audience.
“We were illegal immigrants,” Kimbal said flatly.
Musk has now taken a tough stance against illegal immigration and frequently accuses Kamala Harris of allowing illegal immigrants into the United States for political purposes – “importing voters,” as he puts it. Trump himself has repeatedly stated that he fully supports legal immigration, especially for highly skilled people, even going so far as to say that he wants foreign nationals who graduate from American universities to “automatically receive » green cards.
Incidentally, Harris’ parents, Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, also arrived in the United States as foreign graduate students in 1959.