CEO of Tesla Elon Musk has continued to address issues related to illegal immigration on X, a social media platform he owns. Now, her mother, Maye Muskparticipated in the discussion and reflected on the challenges their family faced while immigrating to the United States
What happened: Elon Musk stated that he is “PRO of significantly increasing legal immigration” and clarified: “I’m not anti-immigration, I’m just against huge numbers of unvetted people pouring into America, as any person should be rational”.
In response to her post, Maye Musk recalled instances where her son had difficulty entering the United States due to paperwork issues at the Toronto airport. You mentioned the need to provide additional documentation, such as a pink slip verifying Elon’s status as a University of Pennsylvania student.
The Musk family, originally from South Africa, initially settled in Canada before emigrating to the United States. Elon Musk attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and economics in 1997.
Maye Musk highlighted the challenges of her other children, Kimbal AND Tosca, faced due to their Canadian citizenship, which prevents them from visiting Elon in college. She spoke about the difficulties the family faced during the immigration process, highlighting the long wait and legal complexities.
“When we moved to the US as immigrants, we had to show extreme skills, pay lawyers, and wait 9-12 years to become US citizens,” Maye Musk said.
“Now young and old can enter America illegally and receive many benefits that we pay for. Do any other legal immigrants think this isn’t right?”
“I couldn’t get American citizenship even though my father and grandmother were born in Minnesota, and my grandfather, John Elon Haldeman, was born in Illinois. I was born in Canada, so it took me 12 years of visas, a green card, a lawyer and numerous medical tests. It’s so hard,” she said, accompanied by a photo of her father’s birth certificate.
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Because matter: The immigration debate has gained prominence as it becomes a key election issue, contributing to the challenges faced by the President Joe Biden.
According to a report from ABC News, migrant encounters in the US-Mexico area increased to a record 302,000 in December, and more than 100,000 migrants were transported to cities including Washington, Los Angeles and New York.
Aside from opposition from Republicans, Biden is reportedly facing divisions within the Democratic party.
Nobel laureate and economist Paul Krugman said in a post last weekend that immigration has become a major election issue, in part because “it is becoming increasingly difficult for Republicans to oppose Biden on the economy.” He argued that the immigrant population has added strength to the workforce and, in turn, helps keep inflation in check.
Read next: Elon Musk’s mom says she knew her son was a genius before kindergarten: Happy he didn’t end up in ‘a basement somewhere’ like other geniuses
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