AOC takes aim at Elon Musk, GOP lawmaker for 'joyride' at southern border

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., went after Republican House colleague Tony Gonzales after he visited the southern border with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. 

"What’s funny about this photo? The House is holding important votes in DC tonight, people are scrambling to avoid a shutdown, but this Republican Congressman decided to skip town to joyride with a billionaire when his own party has just a single-digit margin and needs his vote," AOC wrote on X after Musk live-streamed his visit alongside Rep. Gonzales in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Musk, who owns Tesla, SpaceX and X, has shown significant interest in the ongoing crisis and has been posting about it frequently on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

ELON MUSK TO VISIT SOUTHERN BORDER IN TEXAS AS MIGRANT NUMBERS HIT NEW RECORDS

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and X owner Elon Musk ((Left: REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger, Right: REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson))

Musk described seeing some "pretty extreme individuals" coming through. 

"Obviously not suggesting that everyone is like this, but you're talking about, you know, a guy who came through who had tattoos, including tears tattooed on his face. It means that they have murdered someone, and they are so proud of having murdered someone."

Musk also described how the asylum system works and said that they "just let them in." He called the situation "beyond insane," and asked on X: "Why do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?"

Tesla, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk paid a visit to Eagle Pass, Texas to see for himself the migrant situation on the ground on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Musk also live-streamed what he saw on X.

The "FOX & Friends" co-hosts reacted Friday to the trip and slammed Ocasio-Cortez and Democrats for ignoring the gravity of the crisis. 

"The average American knows that this border is affecting almost everything they do. Even if you don't live in Tucson or Eagle Pass, if you live in New York, if you've lived Chicago, you see Philadelphia, small and big cities. You are feeling the illegal immigration," said Brian Kilmeade. 

"The smartest man in our country sees this as a problem [and] dare I say, has a solution that might solve the problem, because he's not a politician."

Co-host Ainsley Earhardt mentioned how Musk and Ocasio-Cortez have gone back and forth on the issue, including this week when Musk called her "just not that smart." That prompted the congresswoman to fire back, writing that she "wasn’t born rich and became the youngest woman in American history to be elected to Congress."

Co-host Steve Doocy noted Musk is in favor of legal immigration. 

Musk wrote on X that authorities must "require people to have some shred of evidence to claim asylum to enter, as everyone is doing that. It’s a hack that you can literally Google to know exactly what to say!"

Co-host Lawrence Jones added that no one in the far-left "Squad" believes illegal immigration is a problem, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who insisted to CNN that the "border is secure."

Kilmeade added that Democrats' reactions now are a far cry from the Trump administration, when they treated the issue as a "catastrophe."

"Shark Tank" co-host Kevin O'Leary said on "Outnumbered" Friday that border security is becoming a top story in the mainstream press and "slowly" becoming a bipartisan issue. 

"When Elon Musk takes his own network, and he's got over 100 million followers, and says I'm going to make it an issue, it becomes one," O'Leary said.

O'Leary said he uses professional services that track which topics are growing on social media each day.

"This thing is growing every day… It's becoming a big deal and if you are running for the presidency on either side of the aisle, you're going to have to deal with this one. This one's not going away. And it will become a top three presidential debate. It's around security. It's about the human race. It's about children. It's big."

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FOX News' Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.