Elon Musk has outlined why he is supportive of legal immigration to the United States, but brought up one condition.
While speaking to a crowd in Pennsylvania, the South-African born businessman explained that he came to the United States as an immigrant and is pro-immigration.
However, he believes that if someone is coming into the country they should be an “asset” to the nation and to society and “raise our standard of living.”
Musk said: “Obviously, as someone who’s an immigrant, I’m pro-immigrant. I just want to make sure that people who come here are going to be assets to society and that they’re going to raise our standard of living.”
Elon Musk speak on supporting legal immigration
The owner of X made an analogy to sports teams stating: ” If we have the equivalent of Kobe Bryant or Steph Curry or LeBron, or something like that, and they want to join the team, absolutely, of course!
“Do you like winning? Yeah? Okay! But if they can’t play basketball, they shouldn’t be joining.”
Musk, who was born in Pretoria, South Africa, moved to Canada shortly before his 18th birthday acquiring citizenship through his mother, a Canadian citizen.
He then went to the US in 1992 for his junior year as a transfer student at the University of Pennsylvania and since then founded several high-profile Silicon Valley startups.
Immigration is on the top of voters’ minds as the US heads into the 2024 presidential election, and was a major focus point of the August 12 conversation Musk hosted on X with the former President Donald Trump.
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Speaking on X about immigration, Musk explained: “As a reminder, I am very much in favor of expedited legal immigration for anyone who is talented, hardworking and honest.
“America should be like a pro sports team that wants to win the championship – draft the best players to enable the whole team to win!”
He continued: “If someone is a great nurse, doctor, engineer, carpenter, plumber, electrician, teacher, scientist, etc, they should be welcomed!”
While the tech magnate often encourages legal immigration to the US, he has been accused of sharing posts on social media endorsing conspiracy theories claiming the Biden administration has deliberately allowed undocumented immigrants to cross the border to gain political advantage.