Yes, you read that correctly. The DOJ dropped a lawsuit against SpaceX and Elon Musk yesterday. You see, he won’t hire illegal immigrants to work at his company, so he’s being super discriminatory!

The Department of Justice is suing SpaceX, the aerospace company owned by Elon Musk, over alleged discriminatory practices against people living in the country under asylum and refugees.

The federal government contends in its civil lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, that the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act between September 2018 and May 2022 by discouraging asylees and refugees from applying to the company and refusing to hire or consider them.

The complaint contends that Musk and SpaceX’s leadership repeatedly made false claims that the company couldn’t hire anyone who wasn’t a U.S. citizen or green card holder, because of “export control laws,” but the Department of Justice argued that those laws do not enforce such restrictions.

What were some of those claims they say he made? The ones that the DOJ claims Elon and his company are being big meanies against said illegal immigrants?

The lawsuit cited a June 2020 post on X, formerly called Twitter, by CEO Musk to his then 36 million followers that said: “U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology.”

At an international conference in September 2016, Musk also said SpaceX hires require “special permission from the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State” to comply with International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the suit notes.

Let’s stop right there. According to the DOJ, speaking publicly and citing U.S. law in regards to a company’s hiring practices is discriminatory? Isn’t that something to be applauded? All US companies should be following the law, including hiring practices. 

The other part of this equation is the fact that SpaceX is rocket and space company operating in the United States. Which means several things. 

A. The company has to adhere to U.S. hiring practices

B. The company has to adhere to specific governmental regulations within hiring practices. 

C. NASA

D. ITAR

First of all, doesn’t matter if it’s the cook in the kitchen, or the rocket engineer, each employee needs to not only have the qualifications for the job, but they should have all the necessary qualifications to have said job. And when it’s a high profile company that has to adhere to government hiring regulations (NASA for example), ITAR (which I’ll get into shortly), and …security clearances, then MAYBE there will be illegal immigrants who don’t qualify! 

DOJ sues SpaceX for preferring citizens to asylum seekers and refugees in its hiring practices https://t.co/7WuTOquoPF pic.twitter.com/g1luteJ4Wh

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) August 24, 2023

Did the weaponized DOJ ever stop to consider that many of those wouldn’t have passed security clearances for the job? I highly doubt it. This reeks of a political agenda. 

Except that, with ITAR, a company has to be extremely careful and THOROUGHLY vet whom they hire. Whether it’s the janitor, cook, or engineer, SpaceX needs to have their employees thoroughly vetted. They need to pass all the security clearances and then some in order to ensure national security is adhered to. 

Yet, what we’ve been seeing because of our porous borders and the incredibly lax immigration policies, is anyone is coming through. Why would ANY company want to hire someone based upon their say so? For a company like SpaceX, they can’t afford to cross that line. 

If you go to NASA's official website, it says "other than extremely rare exceptions, you must be a US citizen to work for NASA."

But Biden's DOJ wants to punish SpaceX for not hiring non-citizens?

I'm sure this has nothing at all to do with getting revenge on @elonmusk for… pic.twitter.com/FPwrXal9FX

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 24, 2023

Yet here we have the DOJ coming after SpaceX for…following the law? Yep. That’s what is happening. 

Look, I have sat in four different 3-day sessions concerning import/export that involve all the ins and outs of ITAR. There is a metric ton of things you and your company CANNOT and MUST NOT do in order to stay compliant and do business in the United States let along export to other countries. ITAR is a huge freaking deal and boy howdy, you do NOT get crossways of those regulations or you are done. 

Yet here we have the DOJ suddenly saying ITAR doesn’t matter and Elon along with SpaceX should’ve hired people anyway whether they qualify or not? 

In other words, the DOJ is, with this lawsuit, trying to coerce SpaceX into hiring illegals …or else. 

Security clearances and national security anyone?? 

The work SpaceX and other space companies do is so sensitive that recently the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations issued a joint bulletin about foreign intelligence threats to the U.S. space industry.

In the bulletin, the agencies said foreign intelligence entities “recognize the importance of the commercial space industry to the U.S. economy and national security, including the growing dependence of critical infrastructure on space-based assets. They see U.S. space related innovation and assets as potential threats as well as valuable opportunities to acquire vital technologies and expertise.”

So WHY would a company want to hire someone they can’t track or verify their background? Especially one that has multiple government contracts? Security clearances mean getting info on that person AND family/friends going back several years. Yet this lawsuit from the DOJ infers that that none of that matters. Hire the illegals anyway! 

It’s not SpaceX that is the danger, it is the weaponized DOJ, who tries to gaslight us into believing they apply the law equally,that we should be looking out for. 

Feature Photo Credit: Elon Musk SpaceX via Flickr, cropped and modified