Republican Senator Burns Musk Over Opposition to Border Bill, Tells Him to Focus ‘On the Two Million Teslas That Are Currently Being Recalled’

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) is not interested in hearing Elon Musk’s critiques of the border and immigration bill the lawmaker helped craft.

The bill would provide funding for a border wall and the hiring of more Border Patrol agents. It would also expand detention facilities and make it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum at the border.

Former President Donald Trump is demanding congressional Republicans oppose the bill because he wants to use the issue against President Joe Biden ahead of the general election, where the two are the presumptive nominees of their parties. The GOP has been mostly receptive to Trump wishes, especially those in the House where Republicans leaders pronounced it “dead on arrival.”

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of Twitter (currently X), has also spoken against the legislation. On Monday’s edition of The Lead on CNN, Jake Tapper asked Lankford for his reaction.

“Here’s a claim being circulated on Twitter or X by Elon Musk, who posted ‘The long-term goal of the so-called ‘Border Security’ bill is enabling illegals to vote! It would do the total opposite of securing the border,'” Tapper said. “Now, I know that Elon Musk is not an expert on illegal immigration or the border, but he has a huge megaphone. Explain what he’s talking about here. Is he wrong?”

Lankford replied by referencing a recent recall of Tesla vehicles:

Well, I think he needs to go back to doing the two million Teslas that are currently being recalled right now to be able to focus in on that. No, it’s not focused on trying to be able to get more illegals to vote. That’s absurd… It is against the law for anyone that is not a citizen of the United States to be able to vote in the U.S. in any federal election. That remains so. Obviously, we’re not dealing with that.

Last week, U.S. regulators announced a recall of 2.2 million Tesla vehicles because their warning light panels are too small and not in compliance with federal safety regulations. Tesla’s share price has declined by more than a quarter since the beginning of the year.

Watch above via CNN.