Musk joins S.A.’S Gonzales in calling for immigration reform in Eagle Pass tour
Live from Eagle Pass: Billionaire Elon Musk and U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales.
Musk, of Tesla and Spacex fame, joined the San Antonio Republican at the Mexican border on Thursday to speak with local officials about the recent surge in migrant crossings. He broadcast his conversations on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, so his followers “can see the border situation in real time.”
He posted three videos from the border — two livestreams and one standalone — which have garnered a combined 113 million views as of 11 a.m. Friday.
The videos mostly feature Musk chatting with Gonzales, who described an overwhelming number of crossings that kept Border Patrol agents from being out in the field and “catching bad actors.” The congressman denounced the Biden administration for, in his view, dismissing the border as a “political problem.”
Gonzales represents about two-thirds of the Texas border in a district stretching from San Antonio to El Paso.
“It’s a policy issue,” Gonzales said. “We can be humane, and we can be all these things, and we can protect those that qualify for asylum — but we also need to have repercussions for people that don’t.”
Musk agreed.
“To be clear, we’re both very much in favor of expanding legal immigration to anyone who is hardworking and honest,” Musk said. “It’s really going to … be a net addition to the economy. I think we should, we should let them in. But I mean, what we’re seeing here are, in some cases, some pretty extreme individuals coming through.”
At the end of one livestream, Gonzales led Musk to a group of dozens of migrants sitting in rows under a bridge. There, they awaited processing.
“See how orderly it is?” Gonzales said. “It’s like an orderly, chaotic, unruly event that’s happening. And it’s wrong. It’s wrong for everybody involved. We’re not talking one or two people — we’re talking thousands of people every day.”
The city of Eagle Pass issued a disaster declaration last week as crossings increased. Political instability and crime in Central American nations are driving thousands to make their way to the U.S. to seek asylum.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said the influx has “taken a toll on our local resources, specifically our police force and our fire department.”
The Biden administration has tried to cut down on illegal border crossings this year by requiring those seeking asylum to check in with the federal government through a phone app and make an appointment at a point of entry. That initiative includes increased penalties for asylum seekers who simply show up, cross the border and turn themselves in; and it has expedited the deportation of families residing in the U.S. unlawfully.
But last week the administration announced it would make an exception for an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived by July 31, offering them temporary legal status to make it easier for them to get authorization to work in the United States. At the same time, President Joe Biden blasted House Republicans for continuing “to undermine our border security” by blocking bipartisan bills to reform the immigration system, CNN reported.
Migrants used to cross the border to meet someone who was already in the United States, or they would have money to help them establish a life here, Gonzales said. But the people who are crossing now are impoverished and unsure where to go next, he said.
“It’s a bad situation all the way around, and a large part of it is because the (Biden) administration is attracting these folks to come, knowing full well … it’s a dead-end road that they’re going in,” Gonzales said.
“This sounds like complete madness,” Musk replied.
“It is,” the congressman said. “Imagine if you have to live it every day. Not only is it getting mad, it’s becoming normal. That is what I worry about the most.
“That is why you coming down was so important, to go — does this look normal to you? Does any of this look normal?”
Gonzales said there are “sensible” solutions that could immediately ameliorate the situation at the border, like raising the level of “credible fear” required for an asylum claim. He also cited a need for more immigration judges at the border.
Gonzales on Friday posted another video of himself driving with Musk and describing conversations he’d had with foreign leaders about the surge in migrant crossings. He’d also reposted Musk’s livestream and thanked the business magnate “for sharing the unedited truth.”