Musk criticizes media silence on US migrant crisis

The billionaire questioned the lack of coverage of the thousands of people crossing the US’ southern border

Elon Musk has blasted the lack of media coverage of the US border crisis after footage of an overcrowded processing center in Texas was uploaded to Twitter. Musk's comment comes as the southern part of the country has seen a mass influx of illegal migrants over the past year. 

The clip was captured by Republican Texas congressman Tony Gonzales and published on Twitter by FOX News correspondent Bill Melugin. The video shows hundreds of migrants, including women and children, lying on the floor of the facility covered with what appear to be aluminum space blankets. Gonzales told the outlet that on Friday, when the video was recorded, the Border Patrol Central Processing Center in El Paso was holding some 4,600 migrants in federal custody, well above the facility’s official maximum capacity of only 1,040. 

Musk responded to Melugin’s tweet by asking why most media outlets are choosing to stay silent about the issue despite Border Patrol agents becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of migrants across the US-Mexico border. 

“Why do so few report about the millions of people crossing the border?” Musk questioned. 

Why do so few report about millions of people crossing the border?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022

According to the US Customs and Border Protection agency, roughly 2.3 million migrants attempted to cross the US’ southern border in the fiscal year 2022. The fiscal year 2023, which began in October, has already seen a record surge of illegal crossings, with over 230,000 migrants being encountered at the border in the first month alone. 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been dismissive of the issue, with Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly assuring Americans that the US-Mexico border is “secure” while blaming former President Donald Trump for the currently “broken immigration system.”  

However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been unable to describe what exactly the administration is doing to address this “broken system,” telling reporters on Monday that “I don’t have anything to lay out specifically on what that work looks like.” Jean-Pierre referred further questions on the border crisis to the vice president’s office.