Biden calls on Elon Musk

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden slammed Elon Musk for hypocrisy on immigration following a published report that Tesla’s CEO once worked illegally in the United States. Musk, who was born in South Africa, denies the allegations.

“This richest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here. No, I’m serious. He was supposed to be at school when he arrived on a student visa. He wasn’t at school. He was violating the law. And he’s talking about all these illegal people coming towards us? Biden said while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Saturday at a union hall.

The case was reported by the Washington Post. that Musk was working illegally in the country while on a student visa. The newspaper, citing company records, former business partners and court documents, said Musk came to Palo Alto, California, in 1995 as part of a graduate program at Stanford University “but never enrolled in courses, instead that’s why he was working on his start-up. “

Musk wrote on X in response to a video post with Biden’s comments: “I was actually allowed to work in the US.” Musk added: “Biden’s puppet is lying.”

The report said investors in Musk’s company, Zip2, were concerned about the possibility of their founder being deported and gave him a deadline to obtain a work visa. The newspaper also cited a 2005 email from Musk to his Tesla co-founders in which he confirmed that he did not have permission to be in the U.S. when he founded Zip2.

According to reports, the email was introduced as evidence in a now-closed California defamation lawsuit and contained information that Musk had applied to Stanford so he could legally remain in the country.