The declare: Elon Musk just isn’t a US citizen
A Nov. 28 Threads publish (direct link, archive link) claims billionaire Elon Musk is lacking a key requirement to take a management position in U.S. authorities.
“Elon Musk is NOT a Citizen of america and has NO Place anyplace close to our authorities,” reads textual content over an image of Musk.
The publish obtained greater than 1,000 likes in every week. The same publish was shared on Facebook.
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Our score: False
Musk grew to become a U.S. citizen in 2002, a couple of decade after he first got here to the nation. Public information present he’s registered to vote in Texas, the place state legislation bars noncitizens from registering or voting.
Musk got here to US as school scholar in 1992
Musk lives in Texas – the place noncitizens are prohibited by law from registering to vote or from casting ballots in federal, state or native elections. He mentioned in a Nov. 5 X post that he voted in Cameron County, dwelling of the SpaceX-owned Starbase facility.
Public records from the Texas Secretary of State present he’s registered to vote there, which would not doable if he wasn’t a citizen, because the publish falsely claims.
Musk, the world’s richest person, spent his childhood in Pretoria, one in every of South Africa’s three capital cities, however he left that country after he graduated highschool to attend school in Canada, The New York Occasions reported. He got here to the U.S. in 1992 to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and later graduated with bachelor’s levels in physics and economics, CNN reported.
Musk moved once more in 1995, this time to Palo Alto, California, the place he planned to start a graduate program at Stanford College. Nevertheless, Musk by no means enrolled and as a substitute determined to give attention to a tech start-up, based on CNN, which cited Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Musk.
In 2002, Musk formally grew to become a U.S. citizen. He took the citizenship oath with a couple of thousand different immigrants on the Pomona Fairplex, additionally the location of the Los Angeles County Truthful, based on a 2012 profile in Esquire.
In a Feb. 4 post on X, Musk mentioned the method of turning into a U.S. citizen was “extraordinarily tough” and took him greater than a decade.
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The 12 months Musk grew to become a U.S. citizen, he additionally based SpaceX and was concerned in a deal that resulted in PayPal being acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion, with Musk pocketing $165 million, based on a CNN timeline.
The Washington Publish reported in late October that Musk worked illegally within the U.S. after he selected to not attend Stanford, which left him without a legal basis to stay within the nation. Musk, although, has denied he labored within the U.S. illegally, saying on X he “was the truth is allowed to work” within the nation.
Musk was a serious donor to President-elect Donald Trump’s marketing campaign. Earlier than the election, Trump repeatedly promised mass deportation and has since mentioned he plans to declare a nationwide emergency and use the navy to hold out that effort, as USA TODAY beforehand reported.
The social media person who shared the publish couldn’t be reached for remark.
PolitiFact additionally debunked the declare.
Our fact-check sources
- The New York Occasions, Nov. 19, As Elon Musk Moved to the Right, His Businesses Moved to Texas
- Texas Secretary of State, June 4, Election Advisory No. 2024-19
- Elon Musk, Nov. 5, X post
- Texas Secretary of State (archive), accessed Dec. 6, My Voter Portal
- NBC Information, Aug. 30, Elon Musk says voting by mail is ‘insane’ — but he has done it himself, records show
- The New York Occasions, Might 5, 2022, Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege
- CNN, Oct. 28, Elon Musk is sharing some details about his immigration path. Experts say they still have questions
- CNN, Sept. 29, Elon Musk is one of illegal immigration’s harshest critics. He once described his past immigration status as a ‘gray area’
- Esquire, Nov. 14, 2012, Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will
- Elon Musk, Feb. 4, X post
- Elon Musk, Oct. 26, X post
- The Washington Publish, Oct. 27, Elon Musk, enemy of ‘open borders,’ launched his career working illegally
- The Washington Publish, Nov. 1, Under Trump immigration policies, Elon Musk might have faced a ‘bad situation’
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( headline and story edited by our workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
