5 months ago
14
NEW DELHI: Elon Musk, the
CEO of Tesla
and
SpaceX
and a
prominent tech figure
, recently ignited a political debate with his claim that the 2024 US presidential election could be the last to be decided by American citizens alone. This provocative statement, shared on his own social media platform X, reflects his concerns about the influence of illegal immigrants on electoral outcomes—a topic that has long been a point of contention in US politics.
Musk's comment was in response to a new bill passed by House Republicans that aims to include a citizenship question in the national census, a move opposed by the White House and unanimously by Democrat legislators.
As per a report in the Independent, the bill, known as the Equal Representation Act, is designed to alter how congressional seats are allocated by excluding non-citizens from the population counts used in electoral apportionment. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended the legislation, arguing that it is common sense that "only American citizens should be counted for electoral apportionment."
This legislative change, if implemented, would potentially impact states with large immigrant populations—both Democrat and Republican-leaning—by possibly reducing their representation in Congress. Critics of the bill argue that it contravenes the Fourteenth Amendment, which mandates counting the "whole number of persons" in each state for census purposes. The Biden administration has expressed strong opposition to the bill, emphasizing a commitment to maintaining the census's accuracy and its historical tradition of non-political interference.
Musk's statements highlight a deepening divide in American society and politics over immigration and its implications for democracy. He frames the issue as one of electoral integrity, suggesting that the Democratic Party's opposition to the bill is part of a broader strategy to increase their electoral base through immigration, thus "disenfranchising" US citizens. This aligns with a broader narrative among some Republicans who view immigration as a threat to the electoral process.However, this perspective is highly contested.
Research and data from organizations like the American Immigration Council show that a significant portion of the US immigrant population is comprised of naturalized citizens eligible to vote, countering the argument that non-citizens are improperly influencing US elections.
