Billionaire Elon Musk waded into the US immigration debate by visiting Eagle Pass, a border town in Texas that has recently experienced an influx of migrant crossings.
Thousands of migrants have crossed the Rio Grande to seek asylum in the US. Thousands of migrants have also entered through El Paso and San Diego, California.
Wearing a black T-shirt, cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses, Mr Musk toured the border town with Republican US Representative Tony Gonzales.
The Tesla chief executive noted that he himself is an "immigrant to the United States" and said that he is "extremely pro-immigrant" during a video he posted on X.
Mr Musk urged for "expedited legal approval" to greatly expand the US "legal immigration system" that would welcome "hard-working and honest migrants", Reuters reported him saying. However, he said those rules should prohibit entry for anyone who is "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," he said.
Mr Musk also suggested that some migrants seeking asylum in the US were murderers, referring to migrants with specific tattoos.
"You're actually happy that you killed someone," Mr Musk said of people sporting a teardrop-style tattoo.
Immigration – and the US southern border – is a longstanding Republican issue.
Mr Musk's visit to the border city is the latest episode of him wading into US politics.
He had previously hosted a Twitter space to help launch Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign. He also suggested in a Twitter poll that Ukraine should give Crimea to Russia as part of a peace plan.
Mr Musk last week met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged the billionaire to protect free speech and fight hate speech on X.
