Elon Musk traveled to the border town of Eagle Pass on Thursday to livestream amid the ongoing unlawful migrant crisis.
The livestream lasted about four minutes before crashing due to tech issues. Musk prefaced the stream, saying that his background as an immigrant means he is “extremely pro-immigrant.” He also said he thinks the United States should have a “greatly expanded legal immigration system.”
“We should let anyone in the country who is hard working and honest and will be a contributor to the United States,” said Musk. “… But then, by that same token, we should also not be allowing people into the country if they’re breaking the law. That doesn’t make sense.”
He claimed that the influx of unlawful migrants into the country has led to a “collapse of social services.”
“Even America’s largest city, New York, is buckling under the pressure of just how many illegal immigrants are going to New York. If New York can’t handle it, well, pretty much no part of the country can,” he added.
Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX) joined Musk during the livestream. The lawmaker said that people living along the border “feel very abandoned.” He also said there are “real solutions” that could help mitigate the situation.
In a separate video posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Gonzalez said that over 200,000 unlawful migrants crossed into the United States last month. He claimed that “most of the people … seeking asylum are not going to qualify for asylum.”
Gonzalez said that one potential solution would be to inform those intending to enter the United States that they will be unable to qualify, arguing that the Biden administration is to blame for the alleged lack of action being taken on the part of the federal government.
“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 [the migrants are] going down,” he said.
Gonzalez’s concerns have been echoed across the country, with cities claiming that the sheer number of unlawful migrants was putting a serious strain on municipal services.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said earlier this month that every city agency must reduce spending to prepare for the “financial tsunami” ahead.
“This is not a utopia. New York City cannot manage 10,000 people a month with no end in sight. That can’t happen, and that is going to undermine this entire city,” he said, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Adams blamed the State of New York and the federal government, claiming that the little aid the city had received was insufficient to “handle those costs or change the course of this crisis.”
Similarly, El Paso recently had to open an overflow shelter to manage the influx of unlawful migrants entering the city.
Although the shelter was originally set up “out of an abundance of caution,” it had to be opened to avoid releasing people without stable housing into the streets, reported The Dallas Express.
One action recently taken by the Department of Homeland Security was to allow roughly 500,000 unlawful migrants to apply for work authorization, giving them the opportunity to earn an income and pay for housing, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
