Elon Musk Takes Aim at Delta Air Lines

Elon Musk responded to a conservative commentator who has asked why Delta Air Lines is allegedly "shipping illegal migrants from border states."

Author Ashley St. Clair took to X, formerly Twitter, on December 19 to express her dismay at the airline for flying people she claimed were migrants on her flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York.

"Why the hell is @delta complicit in shipping illegal migrants from border states like Arizona to New York City?" she wrote. "Our own mayor (a Democrat) has begged Biden to stop sending the migrants here because we are overwhelmed. Is Delta being directed to transport these migrants or are they willingly shipping illegal migrants to cities they know are crumbling for a paycheck from taxpayers?"

Newsweek reached out to Delta Air Lines via their website and contacted St. Clair via X for comment on Wednesday.

At the time of writing, "Delta" was trending on the platform, and the post had been viewed more than 407,000 times, even catching the attention of Musk, X's owner.

"Good question," Musk commented, to which St. Clair added in response: "I won't hold my breath on them answering."

Newsweek contacted Musk for comment via email Wednesday.

St. Clair said in a separate post on X that the flight was allegedly filled with migrants who still had bags from the processing center.

"My Delta flight from Phoenix appears to be flying migrants who crossed the border and are being shipped to New York," she posted. "When I asked a Delta representative if this was the case, his response was 'What does it matter, they're humans too.' What is happening???? Are taxpayer dollars paying for this????"

Newsweek was unable to confirm that the passengers on St. Clair's flight were migrants. However, if they were newly arrived migrants, after being processed and submitting an asylum request, individuals are no longer regarded as being in the country unlawfully.

"I had a dozen other passengers come up & thank me for asking about our Delta flight full of migrants who illegally entered our country," St. Clair wrote. "I'm sick and tired of being told wanting a secure border is 'racist.'"

She added: "Migrants are being flown Delta premium cabin, given phones, and housing while Americans struggle to afford groceries and rent."

She also said one of the alleged migrants was seated next to her in a premium cabin and wondered if the other passengers had undergone medical screening.

People online slammed St. Clair, with many having sympathy for the people she was writing about.

"Well maybe if you had decided not to pay for the bombs that were dropped on these migrant's countries and rob them off of eventual development and basic infrastructure, seating next to you, that too on a Delta would be their last choice. Stand up at the root of aggression," one person wrote.

"Just say you're uncomfortable around so many non-white people and be done with it, gringa. Shout out to Delta," said an X user, with another writing: "Maybe trying being more like the Delta employee and quit being so heartless."

Others sided with St. Clair, expressing their disappointment with the airline.

"This is a huge deal. @Delta is putting your health at risk by putting migrants on your flight and isn't disclosing they are on your flight!" one X user said in a quote tweet. "Many people don't know this but legally entering immigrants into the United States are required by law to have a clear TB test."

"Delta is just like our crooked & evil government. Putting illegals before paying customers like the government puts illegals before our own people who are out literally sleeping on sidewalks. This country is turning into a third world country right before our eyes. Infuriating," another X user wrote.

"You can bet Delta is making a fortune from our tax dollars," one person said.

This isn't the first time that Musk, a native of South Africa, has weighed in on immigration. On September 28 the billionaire paid a visit to Eagle Pass, which is a city in Texas that borders Mexico, to meet with local politicians and law enforcement. His visit coincided with a surge in the number of people who had traveled to northern Mexico before crossing the U.S. border seeking asylum.

While there, he did a video livestream on X and said: "As an immigrant to the United States, I am extremely pro-immigrant and I believe that we need a legally expanded immigration system and that we should let anyone in the country who is hard-working and honest and will be a contributor to the United States."

He added: "We shouldn't allow people in the country if they're breaking the law...We want to do both things—smooth out legal immigration and stop a flow of people that is of such magnitude that we're leading to a collapse of social services."

On November 1, he retweeted a video of people crossing the border. He added the caption: "The scale of illegal immigration across the US southern border is staggering."

St. Clair's post comes amid President Joe Biden facing bipartisan backlash over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border as the country continues to experience a high number of migrant border crossings. According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were more than 2.475 million encounters at the southern border in the fiscal year 2023, an increase from about 2.378 million in fiscal year 2022.

On Friday, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs raised concerns about the U.S.-Mexico border, knocking the Biden administration for not adequately delivering resources to the border. Now under an executive order signed by Hobbs, National Guard personnel will assist law enforcement at the southern border.

"We can't stand alone," Hobbs said. "Arizona needs resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a secure, orderly and humane border. Despite continued requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to deliver desperately needed resources to Arizona's border."