Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk issued a sharp rebuke to veteran Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters after a video surfaced in which she appeared to suggest that First Lady Melania Trump should be investigated and possibly deported. The controversial comments, made at an anti-Department of Government Efficiency rally in Los Angeles over the weekend, quickly went viral.
Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, reacted late Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “At some point, the many crimes of Maxine Waters will catch up to her.” His statement sparked debate, though public records show that Waters, 86, has no criminal record.
In the video, originally posted by the X account “End Wokeness” and later shared by Fox News host Sean Hannity, Waters can be heard saying, “If he [Trump] wants to start looking so closely to find those who were born here and their parents were undocumented, maybe he ought to first look at Melania.”
Waters went on to add, “We don’t know whether or not her parents were documented. And maybe we better just take a look.” Her remarks were in response to the Trump administration’s ongoing pledge to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., a policy that has faced legal hurdles.
The Los Angeles Times captured images of Waters among a crowd of hundreds protesting at the rally. The event was one of several held nationwide amid growing tensions over immigration policies.
Melania Trump, born in Slovenia in 1970, moved to the United States in 1996 to pursue a modeling career. She met Donald Trump in 1998, and the couple married in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago. She obtained an “Einstein Visa” (EB-1), which is designated for individuals with extraordinary abilities, and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006. Her parents followed in 2018, receiving green cards through family sponsorship.
Before suggesting an investigation into the First Lady, Waters criticized former President Trump’s push to eliminate birthright citizenship. “When he talks about birthright, and he’s going to undo the fact that the Constitution allows those who are born here, even if their parents are undocumented, they have a right to stay in America,” she said.
The video drew further attention when Hannity labeled it, “MAD MAXINE! Crazy California Rep Suggests First Lady Should Be Deported in Unhinged Rant.”
Waters has long been an outspoken critic of Trump, while Musk, who has become increasingly involved in political discourse, has voiced his support for the former president in recent months. The heated exchange underscores the ongoing polarization surrounding immigration policies and the role of public figures in shaping national debates.
