Billionaire immigrant turned Trumpeto’s Musketeer, Elon Musk, has never been shy about making bold political moves. His latest? A key role in Donald Trump’s administration as basically a chainsaw slasher of social public spending and federal jobs — much like he did at Twitter. Musk, the grandson of a pro-apartheid, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, notably backs Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Yet, a new investigation exposes a glaring hypocrisy: Undocumented immigrants helped build Musk’s empire.
The workers behind the empire
A Bloomberg Businessweek investigation recently spoke with 10 undocumented workers who were employed by outside companies to work on Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin and a SpaceX outpost. Their jobs ranged from laying plumbing to pouring concrete and sweeping debris — the labor that helped construct the very facilities where Musk’s companies now operate.
One worker, Cristy, 55, from Honduras, recalled making $16 an hour in 98°F heat and walking up to 30,000 steps a day just to complete her tasks. She even described being discouraged from using water stations to limit bathroom breaks — a stark contrast to Musk’s own rhetoric on worker rights and efficiency.
After enduring unsafe working conditions, Cristy eventually filed complaints with OSHA for retaliation and safety violations. Her story is not unique, but many undocumented workers fear speaking up due to their legal status, despite being essential to massive construction projects like Musk’s.
Musk’s undocumented workforce — then and now
This isn’t a new issue. Undocumented labor has been in Musk’s companies for years, according to Bloomberg. In 2020, when Musk was still largely apolitical, they were there. In 2023, as he donned a cowboy hat and postured at the U.S.-Mexico border, they were there. And in 2024, as he threw his support behind Trump’s re-election campaign and helped shape immigration policy, they were still there.
Some workers were even present while Musk laid the groundwork for his new Washington, D.C., role — all while Trump promises the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.
The bigger picture
It’s no secret that undocumented workers are essential to the U.S. construction industry. In 2022, more than 507,700 immigrants worked in construction, accounting for 40% of all workers in the field. Of them, an estimated 295,400 were undocumented — nearly a quarter of all industry employees, according to the American Immigration Council.
Yet, Musk — a South African immigrant himself who came to the U.S. as a student on a student visa — now has conveniently aligned himself with a political movement that seeks to strip rights from the very people who built his facilities. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002, but his growing influence in Washington has even raised questions about his own immigration status and allegiance.
Convenient hypocrisy or inevitable reckoning?
Musk’s alignment with Trump and his anti-immigration rhetoric might make for good headlines, but the reality is far murkier. His success has been built on the backs of the very people his political allies want to deport.
The question remains: Will Musk ever acknowledge this hypocrisy or will he continue to profit from the labor of undocumented workers while helping shape policies that drive them out?
Only time will tell — but for now, the evidence speaks for itself.
Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news about Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Latin America.
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