Elon Musk hits back at DOJ lawsuit against SpaceX: ‘DOJ needs to sue themselves!’

by John Hanna

Photo: Alamy

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against SpaceX on the grounds the company’s hiring policy discriminates against asylum recipients and refugees.

According to the DOJ’s lawsuit, SpaceX’s hiring policy violates the Immigration and Nationality Act by refusing to hire or consider candidates based on the candidate’s citizenship status. 

It is worth noting that according to the DOJ, SpaceX claimed they were legally required by federal regulations to hire candidates that are either U.S. citizens or permanent green card residents. 

According to one tweet, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded to the news on Saturday by stating the DOJ should “sue themselves.”

Musk is referring to a tweet by George Mason University Professor Alex Tabarrok, who pointed out that one of the conditions of employment at the DOJ is U.S. citizenship.

In addition, Representative Mike Collins, R-Ga., supported SpaceX but assigned the root of the issue to a different culprit. Collins tweeted, “The Biden administration keeps our borders wide open and then expects American businesses to accommodate illegals at the threat of prosecution.” 

Collins’ allusion to the ongoing crisis near the U.S.-Mexico border, where migrant numbers have soared since the Biden administration took office. The congressman’s tweet also supports the position of SpaceX when it comes to hiring only U.S. citizens, making the argument that small businesses should not be responsible for the decisions of the federal government. 

Collins’ argument also correlates with Tabarrok’s point about the DOJ selectivity for candidates who are hired for their own department, raising an interesting point about the hypocrisy of the DOJ’s lawsuit against SpaceX. 

According to their website, the DOJ says asylees’ and refugees’ permission to work in the United States does not expire, and asylees and refugees are equal to U.S. citizens and green card citizens when it comes to applications for company positions.

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