--- title: "Trump Adviser Urges Immigration Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Past as “Illegal Alien”" description: "Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist to Trump, is absolutely relishing Elon Musk's falling out with the president." date: "2025-06-06" modified: "2025-06-06" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/trump-adviser-elon-musk-immigration" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "steve bannon" - "trump administration" --- # Trump Adviser Urges Immigration Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Past as “Illegal Alien” ![Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist to Trump, is absolutely relishing Elon Musk's falling out with the president.]() *\Image: Drew Angerer / Dominick Reuter / Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty / Futurism\* As Elon Musk and Donald Trump's bromance experiences a rapid but [totally predictable disassembly](), Musk's archnemesis Steve Bannon is calling on the president to investigate the world's richest man's dubious immigration history. "They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately," Bannon [told the ]()[*New York Times*]() on Thursday. He also declared that Musk should be investigated for his [alleged drug habit](). Bannon was a former chief strategist to Trump. He no longer holds the role in an official capacity, but remains an informal adviser and an influential voice on the American far right. Musk and Trump traded blows on their respective personal social media playgrounds this week, not long after Musk suddenly announced that his time as a "special government employee" was over. Once out of the White House, it didn't take long for things to escalate from Musk [blasting]() the president's newly proposed spending bill, to Trump [threatening to cancel]() Elon's billions of dollars worth of government contracts, to Musk clapping back by saying he'd [cut off]() NASA's invaluable access to his spacecraft. Musk also *really* went off the rails by [shouting from the rooftops of X]() that Trump is in the unreleased Epstein files, and then agreeing that the president [should be impeached](). We can only imagine the pure schadenfreude bliss that Bannon must be experiencing right now. He's made no secret of his contempt for Musk, who he's previously called a "[toddler]()," and "[not tough enough]()," and a "parasitic illegal alien." Some of that is probably his [jealousy speaking](): Musk had replaced Bannon as the president's golden boy, a role he lost when Trump kicked Bannon kicked to the curb for stealing the limelight during his first term in office. Bannon, an [alleged white supremacist](), has always been skeptical of Musk's sudden realignment with the MAGA movement, and has constantly chided the Silicon-Valley-liberal turned Texas-based-technocrat for not being conservative — or [racist]() — enough. So you can bet he's making the most of Musk's downfall, capitalizing on his dubious personal immigration history. Despite his constant slandering of immigrants, the South Africa-born businessman was likely at one point [an "illegal" immigrant too](), overstaying on a student visa even though he'd dropped out of school to work on his startup. His brother, Kimbal, has [admitted]() to both of them working illegally. Bannon, on top of calling for Musk's deportation, has recommended nationalizing Musk's businesses, too. "President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act to be called and seize SpaceX tonight before midnight," Bannon said Thursday on an episode of his War Room podcast, [as quoted by the *Daily Beast*](). But he faces a fearsome keyboard warrior in Musk, who retaliated in a [slur-bedazzled tweet](): "Bannon is peak r\*tard." Then he doubled down, clarifying that Bannon was, in fact, a "communist r\*tard." There's clearly no love being lost between the two. Trump, for his part, is doing his best Don Draper impression. "I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem," he said Friday, [per *CNN*.]() **More on Elon Musk:** *[Elon Musk Declares That He's "Immediately" Cutting Off NASA's Access to Space]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()