Trump Supporter Elon Musk Himself Turned Entrepreneur While Living As Illegal Immigrant In US: Report

Elon Musk reportedly worked illegally in the US on a student visa when he first became an entrepreneur, founding Zip2 after abandoning his Stanford programme, as reported by The Washington Post, which referenced former business partners, court documents, and company records.

This contrasts with Musk's status as a major supporter and donor of Donald Trump's campaign, promoting Trump's claims that "open borders" and undocumented immigrants are damaging America.

Photo Credit: PTI

Musk has even accused Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats of "importing voters."

Musk's founding of Zip2 and its subsequent sale for around $300 million in 1999 became the foundation for his journey toward Tesla and other ventures that led to him becoming the world's richest person.

He went on to establish X.com (a name he recently revived to rebrand Twitter), which evolved into PayPal. After eBay acquired PayPal, Musk made roughly $176 million, which he invested in Tesla and SpaceX.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth now stands at $277 billion, a huge lead over Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who ranks second with $211 billion.

However, as former Justice Department immigration lawyer Leon Fresco noted in the report, foreign students are not legally allowed to drop out and establish a business.

At the time, venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures, which invested $3 million into Zip2, required Musk and his brother Kimbal to obtain legal work status within 45 days or risk the firm reclaiming its investment. Zip2 board members were reportedly concerned about this.

"We don't want our founder being deported," said Derek Proudian, a Zip2 board member who later became its chief executive, as quoted in the report.

"We want to take care of this long before there's anything that could screw up" the company's plans for an initial public offering (IPO), he added.