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Fact-checking Elon Musk's claim about Democrats importing voters [1]
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Date: 2024-11
Investigating Musk's far-fetched claim about Democrats importing voters
BBC News
Since endorsing Donald Trump for president in July, Elon Musk - the owner of X - has posted about the US election hundreds of times, attracting more than four billion views. BBC Verify, working with data firm Node XL, analysed all of his posts since then - over 8,000 - and searched for key words to track the election issues he has been posting about most to his 200 million followers. Immigration and voting emerge as key themes with Mr Musk engaging with misinformation online about "illegal aliens" voting in this election. He has also claimed repeatedly that Democrats have been "importing" immigrants who will vote for them in future elections. But voting and immigration experts we have spoken to have challenged this, pointing out that it is illegal for them to vote in federal elections and that even if some might qualify for citizenship eventually, the process would take many years.
What has Musk said about illegal immigrants voting in this election?
Mr Musk has engaged with posts on X which suggest that illegal immigrants are already voting in this election. On 30 October, he responded to a claim that illegal voters were able to apply for mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Mr Musk replied to the claim, which has been rejected by local election officials, saying: "Is this real?" It is against the law for non-citizens to vote in US federal elections - punishment includes a year in prison, a fine, and possibly deportation. A number of studies, both from conservative and left-leaning organisations, suggest instances of non-citizens having voted in US federal elections are very small. Since July, Mr Musk has posted at least 22 times about voters being "imported" from abroad. The language in many of these posts is ambiguous as to whether he means this will impact this election or future ones. In seven posts, he has said they are going directly into swing states. On 20 October, in a post viewed 21 million times, he said: “Triple digit increases of illegals in swing states over the past 4 years. Voter importation at an unprecedented scale!”
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Along with the post, he shared a table that showed very large percentage increases in "unauthorized migrants" in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin, since 2021. The table, which does not have a source, had been posted by "America" - a political action committee Mr Musk set up to support Trump. We could not find evidence for these figures but migration experts pointed us towards the latest Department of Homeland Security report which has estimates for each state between 2018 to 2022. These show that in several states - including Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina - the number of "unauthorised immigrants" has remained steady or dropped over this period. They do show large numbers living in these states under the Biden administration but also when Trump was president.
What has Musk said about Democrats importing voters to win future elections?
Mr Musk has repeatedly suggested that illegal immigrants will gain citizenship and sway future elections for the Democrats. In a post on 25 October, which got almost 17 million views, he said: “Their stated plan is to give them citizenship as soon as possible, turning all swing states Dem. America would then become a one-party, deep blue socialist state.” Voting and immigration experts described this as a far-fetched claim.
Getty Images Elon Musk has appeared at rallies with Donald Trump
Democrats have expressed a desire for some undocumented migrants in the US to have "an earned pathway" to citizenship, but it is not their stated policy to grant them all this. "Some undocumented migrants who arrive in the US could have a route to citizenship - but that would typically take a decade or longer, if they even have a path at all, which many of them will not," says Michelle Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute. In several posts, Mr Musk mentions a 1986 bill which granted amnesty to approximately three million undocumented immigrants in the US. This was passed by Congress and signed into law by Republican President Ronald Reagan. It forgave individuals who came into the US illegally but did not give them immediate citizenship. “Perhaps Musk imagines that a president or administration can simply decree mass naturalisation of noncitizens without going through the prescribed individual legal processes, and that Congress and the courts would simply then accept this. That's not how it works", Walter Olson, a voting rights expert from the conservative think tank, the Cato Institute told us.
What other evidence does Musk cite?
On 25 October, Mr Musk posted on X: “Massive numbers flown directly to swing states and put on the fast track to citizenship. Voter importation.” The post, viewed almost 19 million times, included a chart entitled “inadmissible aliens” shared by Mario Nawfal.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd5l0d3794o
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