Wired: Elon Musk could be deported for lying on his visa application

For close to two years, the Heritage Foundation has been suing the Department of Homeland Security to get their hands on Prince Harry’s visa application. Heritage claims they need to see Harry’s visa documents to determine if Harry “lied” about drug use, and if he lied, Heritage would then lead the charge to deport Harry. Lying on a visa application is a really serious thing and it could absolutely lead to deportation. So it’s curious that Heritage doesn’t have that same energy for a South African MAGA douche who pals around with Vladimir Putin.

Elon Musk could have his United States citizenship revoked and be exposed to criminal prosecution if he lied to the government as part of the immigration process, according to legal experts.

Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa and later emigrated to Canada before eventually settling in the US and becoming a citizen, has spent more than $100 million to support Donald Trump and his nativist presidential campaign, and has personally demonized immigrants. A recent Bloomberg analysis found, for example, that Musk has posted around 1,300 times on X this year about immigration and voter fraud. Many of those posts promote the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which falsely holds that Democrats seek to replace white voters with unauthorized immigrants whose votes they control, and depicts immigrants as dangerous lawbreakers.

Earlier this week, though, The Washington Post reported that Musk was himself an immigrant who had apparently broken the law. In the 1990s, he worked illegally in the United States, according to the Post, which cited “former business associates, court records and company documents.” In 1995, according to the Post, Musk was admitted to graduate school at Stanford but didn’t enroll in classes, instead working on an online services startup that would eventually be known as Zip2. (Stanford did not reply to requests for comment.) In 1996, the Post reported, investors made a funding agreement contingent on Musk and his brother Kimbal—who has stated that the brothers were “illegal immigrants”—obtaining authorization to work in the US within 45 days. “Their immigration status was not what it should be for them to be legally employed running a company in the US,” Zip2 board member Derek Proudian told the Post.

Musk denies that he ever worked illegally in the US. (His lawyer, Alex Spiro, and a spokesperson for X, which he owns, did not reply to requests for comment.) He claims that in 1995, as a student, he was in the US on a J-1 visa, which then “transitioned” to an H1-B visa. As the Post reported, though, in a 2005 email that was entered into evidence in a since-closed defamation lawsuit in California, he wrote that he had applied to Stanford because he otherwise had “no legal right to stay in the country.” Musk then reportedly didn’t enroll at Stanford, instead working on the project that would become Zip2.

Someone present in the US on a student visa who didn’t enroll in courses would have had no right to work at the time and would have had to leave the country, according to experts WIRED consulted. (He did ultimately receive work authorization in 1997.)

Overstaying a student visa was, and to a much lesser extent still is, relatively common. Working without authorization and lying about it during the immigration process would be, however, a black-letter violation of US law carrying significant penalties, albeit one enforced fairly rarely, say experts.

[From Wired]

Several weeks ago, Musk said that if Donald Trump doesn’t win, he (Musk) will get thrown in jail. There’s an abundance of evidence of Musk’s criminality, from the Putin collusion to his Starlink bullsh-t harming Ukraine, to his election interference on behalf of Trump. But what if his citizenship was all based on lies? LMAO. Deport him.

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33 Responses to “Wired: Elon Musk could be deported for lying on his visa application”

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  1. yipyip says:

    No one is touching Elon.
    That piece of garbage has enough $$ he is untouchable.
    I’m sick of it all.

    • I agree that will never happen unfortunately!!

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      Not to mention that he is a white guy from South Africa. MAGA is not opposed to white immigrants. Just people of color. They prove it over and over again, beginning with Trump’s insistence that people from “the Congo” are being released from prisons and insane asylums to come here. No dog whistles needed anymore.

    • Lau says:

      It won’t happen but let’s be honest, that would be the funniest example of “I never thought leopards from the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party would eat MY face”.

  2. Athena says:

    Lock him up!

  3. K says:

    I would love this. But I doubt it will happen. Nothing seems to happen to these kind of people. He’s a danger. But a super rich danger.

  4. aquarius64 says:

    Where is the Heritage Foundation on this? Having Putin on your personal contact list is a bigger threat that a British prince that smoked weed when he was a teenager.

    • Dee(2) says:

      Yeah, interesting how there doesn’t seem to be any ” immense public interest” being noted by the heritage foundation, about the Visa status of someone who is intrinsically entangled in the United States’ military and space apparatus. As ever in situations like this the response is, ” no, not like that!!”.

  5. sevenblue says:

    well, well, well how the turntables!

    Joking aside, I don’t believe anyone is gonna touch Elon. He unfortunately has become a national security asset to USA, with many security clearances on military projects. There is no way secret service or military let him go to jail or out of the country.

    • Pinkosaurus says:

      Ugh, this is just like all those MAGA conspiracy theorists screaming about voter fraud when they are the ones plotting to steal the election, or Qanon nuts molesting women and children while accusing everyone else of trafficking.

      Elno’s treasonous plotting with Russia and unhinged drug-fueled nuttery need to be recognized as the serious threat to national security that they are and the companies he controls must be disqualified from federal contracts.

    • bisynaptic says:

      At this point, he’s a net national security risk.

  6. Hypocrisy says:

    Well thanks to the Heritage Foundation we now have precedent to have his application reviewed by a judge 👩🏻‍⚖️.. if any organization wishes to bring a FOIA lawsuit.

  7. Neeve says:

    His companies provide jobs and help the economy,so he has a good argument there.

    • Whatever says:

      They are not great companies to work for.

      We all saw what happened to the twitter workers.

      Conditions at tesla are not great and there have been multiple reports of racist incidents.

      But sure, support the rich wackjob who is actively working to undermine democracy.

    • Friendly Crow says:

      Didn’t he move his entire operation to Texas because they hsve more exploitive labor laws and weaker unions?

  8. Mab's A'Mabbin says:

    If only……

    I’d give anything to see criminals behind bars. This isn’t my America. Not until this era is in our rearview.

  9. AMB says:

    How do we as regular old non-billionaire citizens of a democracy under the rule of law (not fear) motivate the proper authorities to look into this?

  10. Jay says:

    There’s a world in which Elon’s experience as an international student and an immigrant would have made him more compassionate to people who are in the same boat who are trying to make a life for themselves in the US.

  11. yipyip says:

    Isn’t it just sickening that Prince Harry and his Visa is always being brought up?
    Harry is a decent fella trying to do good w/his projects. Leave him alone.

    Meanwhile Elon and Trump who are openly dealing with Putin amid other crimes….oh, well.
    This country is in real danger.
    We the People are being screwed!

  12. MsIam says:

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Does Trump know about this “illegal immigrant?”

    • Guest says:

      Melania came on an “Einstein” visa, and the US didn’t need any more models in the country. Nothing will happen to either of them because of their skin color. Look at Anna Delvey, a felon the US has yet to deport. Whereas a brown grandmother trying to protect her granddaughter from MS-13 gang rape is immediately imprisoned & deported to be murdered by the gangs.

  13. girl_ninja says:

    His Nazi PAC hired some people to do door knocking in PA and told them that if they didn’t meet their quota that their hotel rooms would not be paid for. They were driven around in a U-Haul truck without safety belts and a patrician between them and the driver. There is footage from the inside of the truck.

    He is a danger to the world at large and he needs to be taken down.

  14. Justjj says:

    Hmmm the very same Heritage Foundation backed by Koch money that’s behind Project 25… I wonder what the difference is between Harry and Elon… what could it be. It’ll never happen. These are billionaires in a race to the top who want all of us in cages, doing their bidding and who see the whole entire global population as little more than cannon fodder and a breeding pool to keep the engine running. They sell this under many pretenses. White nationalism, Christianity, the pro-life movement, anti-LGBTQ+, whatever it takes to delude the ignorant and uneducated into thinking that they’re on their side and keep them ignorant and uneducated. No one is saying the quiet part out load that we are all getting crushed under the weight of a few billionaire’s greed and as much as we want to do something about the conflict in Ukraine or Gaza, we are all just trying to stay alive ourselves and we all see it for what it is: money laundering for the industry giants that manufacture weapons and war machines. Elon’s not going anywhere. He’s a ring leader on the global stage of turning us all into corporate puppets and a global underclass that’s completely disposable. This is who and what Trump voters are voting for. The Heritage Foundation, Elon…

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Justjj, this is why it will take time before we can be sure that this won’t pop up again in 2028 and possibly 2032. They’ll probably just package the candidates in a different way. MAGA is probably here to stay, but in a smaller group. I see the GOP and MAGA becoming separate parties.

      The billionaires will not stop, but we can continue to stop them.

      • Lucy says:

        I think they’re going to try repackaging, but I really do think when Trump finally plops over or goes to prison, that’s it for them for a long time. Most magas are all in for Trump, and themselves and no one else. Fox might be able to create a few threats, but Trump and his fanatics are literally a dying breed. They’re old and want racist and sexist to be cool again. Without Russian rubles their whole echo chamber collapses. The young ones will go back into hiding when Harris Is prez and trump out of the picture. This is white patriarchy’s dying gasp here as the dominant force. More noon white than white children were born in the us last year. Demographics won’t make maga viable very soon.

  15. VilleRose says:

    Oh interesting he overstayed a J1 visa! J1 visas are related to my current job, I won’t get into details too much but it is a broad category of visas with several designations (for example the same category of visa an au pair would be on). I don’t work with the student J1 visa designation but I do know of participants who have overstayed their J1 visa once their program was complete. I can’t say with authority what happens to people who overstay it as but we always warn people it’s not a good idea and they can be be banned from reentering the US for up to 10 years. Too bad it didn’t happen to Elon in the 1990s.

  16. Is that so? says:

    is the heritage Foundation asking for his visa application?

    • MsIam says:

      Heritage is trying to appeal the judge’s decision. If they are not trying to get Elon’s information based on “public interest” I wonder if that could hurt their case? Not a lawyer, and I do not play one on TV.

  17. yipyip says:

    Trump, Vance, Elon.
    If a Higher Power exists in the Universe, a lightening bolt strike straight from the Heavens is past overdue for each of them.
    Anytime now Karma. Anytime.

  18. JanetDR says:

    I’m assuming that it might at least have an impact on his government contracts? 🤞

  19. AC says:

    Good riddance 👍! This country gave him all the opportunities and And he now wants to Ruin it. Kick him out.

  20. bisynaptic says:

    How about we prosecute him for his crimes, including treason, instead? He could still do damage to our country, from abroad. Much better to throw him in prison.