Elon Musk — who rails against 'illegals in America' — worked illegally in U.S.: report

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — the world's wealthiest man — has come out harshly against undocumented immigrants since becoming one of former President Donald Trump's biggest donors and campaign surrogates. But a new report reveals that he launched his career in the United States without legal status.

The Washington Post is now reporting that Musk was illegally staying in the U.S. on a student visa despite dropping out of school. While Musk, who is from South Africa, emigrated to attend Stanford University, he called his department chair shortly after the fall 1995 semester began to inform him that he wouldn't be attending classes.

At that point, Musk was legally obligated to leave the United States, according to the Post. But instead, he illegally overstayed his visa while building his first company, Zip2 (originally called the Global Link Information Network).

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Eventually, venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures made a $3 million investment into Zip2 in 1996. Upon learning that both Musk and his brother, Kimbal, didn't have legal status to be in the United States, the funding agreement included a clause that stipulated Mohr could claw back its investment if the two didn't obtain a legal work visa within 45 days.

"Their immigration status was not what it should be for them to be legally employed running a company in the U.S.,” Zip2 board member Derek Proudian told the paper. “We don’t want our founder being deported."

Because U.S. immigration records aren't public, determining when Musk's immigration status changed is difficult to ascertain. However, the Post cited two different biographers who wrote that Mohr ultimately arranged for an attorney to line up visas for both Elon and Kimbal Musk in 1996. This means both he and his brother were technically illegal immigrants for the better part of a year. This is particularly noteworthy, as Elon Musk has used his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to regularly launch attacks against and spread disinformation about undocumented immigrants.

"[I]llegals in America can get bank loans, mortgages, insurance, driver's licenses, free healthcare (California & New York) and in-state college tuition," Musk tweeted in February. "What's the point of being a citizen if an illegal gets all the benefits, but doesn't pay taxes or do jury duty?"

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The Post's reported that Musk's colleagues confirmed that he drove a car during the period in which he was in the United States illegally, meaning he would have needed both a driver's license and auto insurance in order to do so. The report also confirms what Kimbal Musk said in a 2013 interview, when saying that he and his brother "were illegal immigrants" when their company landed the $3 million investment from Mohr. Elon didn't use that exact phrasing, but rather said that their status "was a grey area."

Despite making a promise in March to refrain from endorsing a presidential candidate, Elon Musk has not only appeared onstage with Trump, but is now his second-biggest campaign donor. Forbes reported earlier this week that Musk has donated roughly $118 million to a pro-Trump super PAC. His largesse is outpaced only by Timothy Mellon, who had given $150 million to the former president's 2024 bid for the White House.

Click here to read the Post's report in full (subscription required).