In a flurry of tweets, tech mogul Elon Musk has openly criticised the current US administration’s immigration policies, and echoed his mother Maye Musk’s challenging experience in obtaining American citizenship.
Maye Musk recently shared her experience with the challenges of obtaining US citizenship, shedding light on the complexities of the legal immigration process.
In response to a tweet shared by her son Elon Musk, which claimed that ruling Democrats were granting citizenship to illegal immigrants to stay in power, Maye Musk highlighted her own struggles.
“I couldn’t get US citizenship even though my father and grandmother were born in Minnesota, and my grandfather, John Elon Haldeman, was born in Illinois,” she said. “I was born in Canada so it took me 12 years through visas, green card, lawyer and numerous medical tests. That’s how hard it is.”
Echoing his mother’s sentiments, Elon Musk acknowledged the difficulty of his own journey to become a full-fledged US citizen. “Yeah, it was extremely difficult and took over a decade for me to get US citizenship,” he said.
In another post on X, Maye Musk addressed her son and recounted a shared personal experience: “In the early 1990’s, remember when I would drop you off at Toronto airport? Passport control wouldn’t let you into the USA because you were Canadian and had forgotten your pink slip, which verified you as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. I had to pick you up, take you back to my apartment, and return you to the airport with that pink slip.”
She further said, “When we moved to the USA as immigrants, we had to show extreme competencies, pay lawyers and wait 9 – 12 years to become US citizens. Now young and old can walk into America illegally, and receive numerous benefits which we pay for. Any other legal immigrants think this isn’t fair?”
Both Musk and his mother have been vocal critics of US President Joe Biden‘s immigration policies. Elon Musk accused Biden of intentionally allowing a surge of undocumented immigrants into the country to manipulate the political landscape.
“Biden’s strategy is very simple: 1. Get as many illegals in the country as possible. 2. Legalize them to create a permanent majority – a one-party state,” Musk said in a recent tweet.
Taking to X, the Tesla CEO criticised the economic impact of illegal immigration and the Biden administration’s response to the border crisis. He pointed out various services and benefits that illegal immigrants have access to in the US, arguing that they contribute to the housing affordability crisis.
“What’s the point of being a citizen if an illegal gets all the benefits, but doesn’t pay taxes or do jury duty?” Musk questioned.
Despite his opposition to illegal immigration, Musk said he fully supports legal immigration pathways. “As a reminder, I am very much PRO increasing legal immigration significantly,” he clarified. “I’m not anti-immigration, I’m just against a massive number of unvetted people flooding into America, which any rational person should be.”