Elon Musk agrees with the US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick who he once made fun of as he says: American immigration system is...

Elon Musk has found common ground with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on immigration—backing the Cabinet member's stance that America's system is fundamentally broken just days after Lutnick publicly slammed Musk's approach to government efficiency cuts as getting things "backward."

The Tesla CEO responded "Exactly" to a viral clip of Lutnick arguing that open borders only work if immigrants receive zero government benefits. "You can't really open the border and say, 'I'm gonna give my money to anybody who wants to come in,'" Lutnick said. "That's getting it wrong."

Musk backs Lutnick's welfare-immigration stance despite DOGE criticism

The endorsement is notable given the recent friction between the two. In an interview with Axios last year, Lutnick had criticized Musk's handling of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying he got the mission "backward" by prioritizing mass layoffs over cutting waste.

"I thought Elon got caught up in other people's objectives," Lutnick said. He argued Musk treated government like Twitter, where he slashed 80% of staff, assuming the same rapid approach would work for federal agencies.

Lutnick's immigration argument draws from historical precedent. He pointed to the pre-1930s era when America welcomed around 600,000 immigrants annually without welfare programs. Those who couldn't make it "would self-deport and leave," he said.

Trump administration doubles down on enforcement amid policy shifts

Musk has beaten this drum before. He's argued for months that mixing open borders with welfare is a recipe for fiscal disaster. The numbers back him up to some extent—a 2023 House Budget Committee report pegged the annual cost of illegal immigration at $150.7 billion, with $42 billion going toward welfare alone.

Trump's team hasn't been sitting idle either. Since taking office in January 2025, the administration has gone full throttle on enforcement. They declared an "invasion" at the southern border, ramped up detention capacity to hold 100,000 people daily, and took a cleaver to immigrant benefits through the awkwardly named "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

As for Musk and Trump? That bromance hit the rocks back in May when Musk walked away from DOGE. He didn't leave quietly—calling Trump's spending bill a "massive abomination" and later dropping hints about the president's name appearing in the Epstein files.

Lutnick, who has known Trump for over 50 years, said the president would "forgive" but not forget Musk's "negativity" during his exit. For now, at least on immigration, the two billionaires appear aligned—even if their broader relationship remains complicated.