Elon Musk hits back at press for 'anti-immigrant' label: 'Nothing could be further from the truth'
Musk insisted he is not 'anti-immigrant' and said US immigration policies do not make sense
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Billionaire Elon Musk attempted to correct the record on his immigration views after he claimed the press had wrongly labeled him as "anti-immigrant."
"Because I am raising concerns about the flood of unvetted illegal immigrants overwhelming American cities, the press will often characterize me as ‘anti-immigrant,’" Musk wrote on X Thursday.
"As an immigrant myself, nothing could be further from the truth," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I am very much in favor of increased and expedited legal immigration for anyone who is talented, hard-working and honest," Musk continued.
ELON MUSK EXPLAINS WHY HE'S RINGING THE ‘ALARM BELL’ ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: ‘CRUSHING THE COUNTRY'
Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and the X (formerly Twitter) platform, attends a symposium on fighting antisemitism titled 'Never Again : Lip Service or Deep Conversation' in Krakow, Poland, on January 22nd, 2024. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
"It is bizarrely difficult and agonizingly slow to immigrate to the USA legally, but trivial and fast to enter illegally! This obviously makes no sense."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the southwest border under President Biden's watch, a number greater than the individual population of 36 states, a Fox News analysis found.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 shows that the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket has soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in FY 2023.
Musk, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from South Africa, has ramped up his scorching criticism of Biden's border policies in recent months. He visited the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in September, when he declared the "situation is beyond insane and growing fast."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Migrants arrive at a makeshift camp after crossing the nearby border with Mexico near the Jacumba Hot Springs on Feb. 23, 2024, in San Diego, California. Elon Musk has become increasingly vocal in his opposition to illegal immigration. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
When a bipartisan group of senators introduced compromise border security legislation last month, Musk was among the bill's critics who argued it would have normalized high levels of illegal immigration.
Last week, he called the legislation "diabolical" and argued the failed bill "deserved to die," while mocking legacy media coverage of the issue.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Musk responded to an X post from the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, which shared a clip from ABC News' "Good Morning America" that discussed the bill. The ABC News reporter said the tanked bipartisan deal included some of the "toughest reforms in decades" but "Trump pressured Republicans to kill that bill to deny President Biden a political win."
Musk disagreed and ripped how the ABC News story framed the issue.
SENATE TANKS IMMIGRATION, FOREIGN AID SPENDING PACKAGE AFTER GOP BACKLASH AGAINST BORDER PROVISIONS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Musk has slammed President Biden's border policies, accusing Democrats of intentionally permitting illegal immigration to win future votes. ( STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images, left, and Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, right )
"People who get their news from legacy TV live in a fake alternate reality. Those so-called ‘toughest reforms’ would have made invasion-level migration permanent. That diabolical ‘Border Bill’ deserved to die and shame on those who supported it," Musk posted on X.
The bipartisan border bill included an "emergency border authority" to mandate Title 42-style expulsions of migrants when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a seven-day rolling average.
It also would have narrowed asylum eligibility while expediting the process from years to months, provide immediate work permits for asylum seekers and fund a massive increase in staffing at the border and more immigration judges. In addition, it included increased numbers of green cards, extra funding for NGOs and cities receiving migrants, $650 million for border wall funding and $450 million for countries to take back and re-settle illegal immigrants.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While Biden endorsed the deal as a tough but fair way to give him the authority to solve the border crisis, Republicans in the House immediately declared it a non-starter and conservative opposition in the Senate quickly stacked up.
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Musk has unambiguously sided with conservatives on the migrant crisis and accused Democrats of permitting high levels of illegal immigration so that they will vote blue in the future. He has also said Democrats are reluctant to deport illegal aliens who commit crimes since it would be akin to losing potential voters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Dems won’t deport, because every illegal is a highly likely vote at some point," Musk posted on Feb. 26. "That simple incentive explains what seems to be insane behavior."
Fox News Digital's Brian Flood, Michael Dorgan and Eric Revell contributed to this report.