I do not understand how Elon Musk feels so comfortable pushing anti-immigrant, racially charged rhetoric about who “belongs” in America when he is an immigrant himself. 

He was born and raised in South Africa and later moved to the United States, and now he acts as a gatekeeper of American identity.

Many people are quick to defend him by saying he came here the “right” way, but that argument completely misses the point.

Regardless of how someone enters this country, the system, especially ICE, has consistently failed to treat undocumented people humanely. ICE has detained thousands of people who are not criminals, many of whom have no violent records at all, yet they are still subjected to incarceration-like conditions, family separation, and dehumanization.

If the system isn’t treating undocumented people with basic human rights and dignity, then why should Musk be treated as some special person with special exception by the very standards he seems comfortable supporting?

Is it because he has a lot of money? Because he has power? Or many is it because he’s the CEO of Tesla?

What makes this even more awful is that Musk benefits from a system built on global labor, migration, and opportunity, yet allows himself to align with rhetoric that criminalizes immigrants—especially immigrants of color.

America has always been shaped by immigrants. Using the very system that allowed him to succeed to then shut the door on others is cruel, and shouldn’t be allowed.

You don’t get to climb the ladder and then kick it away. If Musk wants to support exclusionary policies and narratives, then he should be held to the same moral standards that he promotes. No billionaire exemptions, no rewriting the rules, and no pretending that money somehow makes someone more deserving of humanity.