Big Take Podcast

The Undocumented Workers Helping Build Elon Musk’s Empire

On today’s Big Take podcast: Elon Musk is calling for a border crackdown. Undocumented laborers helped build Tesla and SpaceX facilities.

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By Sarah Holder and David Fox

February 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM UTC

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Over the last four-and-a-half years, the footprint of Elon Musk’s Texas business empire has undergone rapid expansion. It now includes SpaceX facilities and a sprawling Tesla gigafactory outside the state capital.

New Bloomberg reporting shows that undocumented workers helped to build some facilities — even as Musk ratcheted up his anti-immigration rhetoric and advocated for a border crackdown.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Julia Love investigated how undocumented workers ended up at these sites — and the conditions they encountered — and joined host Sarah Holder to share what she found.