Tesla has undergone unprecedented growth in Austin over the past four-and-a-half years, the centerpiece of which is a 10-million-square-foot "gigafactory," by some measures the world's second-largest building. Undocumented workers have been a regular presence at the site since shortly after ground broke in 2020, a time when Musk was a largely apolitical figure. They were there in 2023, the year Musk traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, and surveyed the US-Mexico border in a black cowboy hat. They continued reporting to work in 2024 as he threw his weight, including nearly $300 million in donations, behind Trump's election campaign. Some unauthorized workers interviewed by Businessweek said they'd started on the project within the past few months, while Musk was laying plans for the Department of Government Efficiency, which he now leads from Washington, DC.

What a scumbag.