Elon Musk's "2 Million" Claim As Texas Declares Emergency Over Migrants

Billionaire Elon Musk has expressed concern over a video showing streaming across the US border with Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Musk demanded "preventive action" while claiming that about two million people are entering through the US border every year. This comes as an overwhelmed city of Texas declared an emergency on the issue, according to New York Times (NYT). Texas' Mayor Rolando Salinas said 7,200 people have illegally crossed the border in the previous week, with 2,500 on Monday alone.

"Strange that there is almost no legacy media coverage of this. About 2 million people - from every country on Earth - are entering through the US southern border every year. The number is rising rapidly, yet no preventive action is taken by the current administration," Mr Musk said in his post.

Strange that there is almost no legacy media coverage of this.

About 2 million people – from every country on Earth – are entering through the US southern border every year.

The number is rising rapidly, yet no preventive action is taken by the current administration. https://t.co/EF7HTS1ktT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2023

He reacted to a video that showed thousands of migrants standing under the bride at Eagle Pass, waiting to cross into the US. One of the clips also showed them casually walking towards the US border.

The arrivals included a large number of people from Venezuela. The substantial increase has put additional strain on local governments in California, Arizona and Texas. The lone shelter provider in Texas failed to accommodate the sudden surge in the number of migrants and many were released onto the streets of the city, said the NYT report.

"They are walking around the streets. The hospital is getting swamped also," Mr Salinas told the outlet, adding that the situation is similar to what the city experienced in 2021.

Eagle Pass has a US Customs and Border Protection processing facility which opened in 2022 with a capacity for 1,000 people.