EAGLE PASS, Texas, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk waded into the U.S. immigration debate on Thursday by traveling to the Texas border with Mexico to meet local politicians and law enforcement and get what he called an “unfiltered” point of view. of the situation.
Musk's visit comes as thousands of migrants have ventured into northern Mexico in recent days aboard freight trains and buses, then crossed the U.S. border into Texas, Arizona and California, in part of an increase in arrivals of people seeking asylum in the United States.
The sharp increase, particularly around San Diego, California, and the border cities of El Paso and Eagle Pass in Texas, follows an earlier lull in unauthorized border crossings following a new asylum policy imposed by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden to discourage such activities.
Musk visited Eagle Pass, where crowds of migrants have been fording the Rio Grande for several days, near a railroad bridge at Eagle Pass, undeterred by the coils of barbed wire placed along the banks of the river by the Texas National Guard.
Wearing a black T-shirt, black cowboy hat and aviator-style sunglasses, Musk advocated a two-pronged approach to overhauling US immigration laws in a selfie video posted on the platform of social media X, formerly Twitter, which he purchased last April. .
He called for “expedited legal approval” as part of a “significantly expanded legal immigration system” that welcomes “hard-working and honest” migrants, while barring entry to those who “break the law.”
“We want to do both things: facilitate legal immigration and stop a flow of people of such magnitude that we lead to a collapse of social services,” Musk said.
Musk, originally from South Africa, highlighted his own status as an "immigrant to the United States" and called himself "extremely pro-immigration."
CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O) and SpaceX, Musk has become increasingly involved in American politics.
He hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' launch of the Republican presidential campaign on Twitter in May, crashing the service. He said earlier this month that he had refused a Ukrainian request to use its Starlink satellite network to help defend against Russia and met last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged balancing protection of free speech and combating hate speech on X.
In the 4-minute video clip, it features U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican whose district spans more than 800 miles of the border, who welcomed Musk and said people along the border Texan "really feel abandoned."
Musk has more than a small stake in the Texas economy. Tesla's Texas Gigafactory is located in Austin, and Space X operates a major test and launch facility on the Texas Gulf Coast in Boca Chica, near Brownsville.
Reporting by Brian Synder in Eagle Pass, Texas; Additional writing and reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Scott Malone and Michael Perry