Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has taken a prominent role in President Donald Trump's administration, being appointed Chair to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is seeking to slash public spending across the board. But as he aligns himself with the Trump administration's rhetoric on immigration and the economy, a new investigation reveals undocumented workers helped build his empire.
Bloomberg Businessweek recently spoke with 10 undocumented immigrant workers who said they'd been employed by outside companies to work at Tesla and SpaceX facilities in the Austin area. The migrants were quoted under a pseudonym or granted anonymity for safety reasons.
The workers had different occupations in the company. Nine of them worked on Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, while another one helped build a SpaceX outpost. From sweeping debris to laying plumbing and pouring concrete, these undocumented migrants were among the workers who helped build the facilities where Musk's companies now carry out their operations.
Bloomberg says they verified the workers' ties to the company by reviewing photos and videos some had taken on the job, as well as speaking with friends and family members who confirmed details of their stories.
One of the workers, Cristy, who's now 55, started working for a Tesla subcontractor in late 2021, shortly after coming to the U.S. from Honduras. She made $16 an hour, logging as many as 30,000 steps a day as she crisscrossed the site to fulfill her duties in heat that could reach 98F. She told Businessweek that her managers discouraged the crew from using the water stations to keep bathroom breaks to a minimum.
"You come to this country yearning to work to be able to help your family. So sometimes, you keep your head down and you put up with situations that you shouldn't put up with," Christy says. But over time, "you start realizing that you have rights." That realization inspired her to file complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), accusing her employer of unsafe working conditions and retaliation.
Undocumented workers have had a constant presence in Musk's companies. According to Bloomberg's investigation, there was presence of such workers in 2020, a time when the billionaire CEO was a largely apolitical figure. They were there in 2023, the year Musk traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, and surveyed the U.S.-Mexico border in a black cowboy hate. And they continued to be there in 2024 as he threw his weight behind Trump's election campaign.
Some unauthorized workers even said they had been in the company over the past months while Musk laid the plans to lead the Department of Government Efficiency in Washington, D.C.
It is not uncommon for undocumented workers to be employed in such companies, particularly when it comes to construction. In 2022, more than 507,700 immigrants worked in the construction sector in the U.S., representing 40% of all such employees. Of those workers, approximately 295,400 were undocumented, representing 23.3% of all employed workers in the industry, according to the American Immigration Council.
However, the investigation comes as Musk, who has proclaimed himself to be "first buddy" has become one of President Trump's closest allies as he vows to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in American history. At the same time, Musk's own citizenship has been questioned— and protested— as his influence in Washington grows, given that he is also an immigrant from South Africa. Musk became a citizen in 2002 after moving to the U.S. to study at the University of Pennsylvania.
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