Elon Musk announced on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was visiting the country’s southern border with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) Thursday.
Musk posted online that he arrived at Eagle Pass, a city that borders Mexico, to “eyeball the situation” and talk with major officials and law enforcement. Musk addressed members of the public on a live video posted on his X account.
“Let me preface by also saying that I am, you know, as … an immigrant to the United States, I’m extremely pro-immigrant,” said Musk, who was born in South Africa. “I believe that we need a greatly expanded legal immigration system and that we should let anyone in the country who is hardworking and honest and will be a contributor to the United States.”
Musk said the U.S. should have an expedited legal approval for migrants, but the country should not be “allowing people in the country if they’re … breaking the law.”
Musk referenced the influx of migrants going to New York City. He said the city is buckling under the pressure of the amount of people arriving in the city.
“If New York can’t handle it, well pretty much no part of the country can,” he said. “So if we don’t do something soon, we’re just gonna have like, a collapse in social services as we’re already seeing in New York.”
In a separate live video, Gonzales showed Musk around outside buildings near Eagle Pass. In response to Gonzales explaining how citizens are worried about their safety, Musk said it is “like a ‘Breaking Bad’ situation.”
Gonzales said the influx of migrants coming to the southern border has increased, blaming the “bad situation all the way around” on the Biden administration.
“A large part of it is because the administration is attracting these folks to come knowing full well … it’s a dead end road that they’re going down,” Gonzales said.
“This sounds like complete madness,” Musk responded.
“It is. Imagine if you have to live it every day,” Gonzales said. “Not only is it getting mad, it’s becoming normal. That is what I worry about.”
Musk asked Gonzales what he thinks the solution is. Gonzales said the potential upcoming government shutdown — which deems many functions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection as essential — is a good time to craft a nonpartisan solution.
“We have a government that’s about to shut down, and it’s going to shut down. I think there’s an opportunity, if we can reopen the government and there’ll be real solutions attached with some border security measures that are nonpartisan,” Gonzales said. “I’m not talking really crazy stuff one way or another. I’m talking something everybody can agree on. This could be a win-win for America. We just need to get the right package to be crafted with some sensible things.”