President Joe Biden criticized Elon Musk for not being honest about immigration rules. A report said Musk worked in the U.S. without permission when he was supposed to be studying. Musk, who comes from South Africa, says the report is wrong.
“That wealthiest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here. No, I’m serious. He was supposed to be in school when he came on a student visa. He wasn’t in school. He was violating the law. And he’s talking about all these illegals coming our way?” Biden said while campaigning on Saturday in Pittsburgh at a union hall.
The Washington Post reported that Musk worked illegally in the country while on a student visa. The newspaper, citing company documents, former business associates and court documents, said Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California in 1995 for a graduate program at Stanford University “but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his startup. ”
Musk wrote on X in reply to a video post of Biden’s comments: “I was in fact allowed to work in the US.” Musk added, “The Biden puppet is lying.”
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Investors in Musk’s company, Zip2, were worried he might get deported and set a deadline for him to get a work visa. A 2005 email from Musk to his Tesla co-founders revealed that he didn’t have permission to be in the U.S. when he started Zip2.
In the email, he mentioned applying to Stanford to stay in the country legally.
Today, Musk is the richest person in the world. He has donated over $70 million to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and other GOP candidates in the upcoming election on November 5.
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Musk has been actively involved in the campaign, often repeating Trump’s negative views on immigration. Trump has promised Musk a position in his administration if he wins the election.
There has been no response from X and Tesla regarding Musk’s comments.