Biden DOJ Sues SpaceX for Preferring American Citizens over Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Its Hiring Practices

by Debra Heine

 

On Thursday, the Biden Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against SpaceX, accusing the company of discrimination for preferring American citizens over asylum seekers and refugees in its hiring practices.

In its 13-page complaint, the Justice Dept. alleges that SpaceX “routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”  The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division seeks to force SpaceX to give “fair compensation” to non-citizens that were not hired.

According to the suit, SpaceX falsely claimed that federal regulations related to export controls restricted the company to only hiring U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

“Export control laws impose no such hiring restrictions,” the Justice Dept. said in a press release. “Moreover, asylees’ and refugees’ permission to live and work in the United States does not expire, and they stand on equal footing with U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents under export control laws. Under these laws, companies like SpaceX can hire asylees and refugees for the same positions they would hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.”

The vast majority of illegal aliens pouring over the border are believed to be economic migrants, rather than legitimate refugees who qualify for asylum.

“Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “Our investigation found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company.”

“Asylees and refugees have overcome many obstacles in their lives, and unlawful employment discrimination based on their citizenship status should not be one of them,” Clarke added. “Through this lawsuit we will hold SpaceX accountable for its illegal employment practices and seek relief that allows asylees and refugees to fairly compete for job opportunities and contribute their talents to SpaceX’s workforce.”

Export controls seek to prevent the flow of information and technology to certain sanctioned destinations by requiring companies doing business in the U.S. to apply for an export license to ship a covered product to a sanctioned country, such as North Korea.

In the course of its business, SpaceX works with certain goods, software, technology and technical data that are subject to export controls along with other regulations like the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations. The DOJ says that those laws and regulations “do not require SpaceX to treat asylees and refugees differently than U.S. citizens or green card holders.”

That runs counter to a 2020 post by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X, the social media platform then known as Twitter, which read, “US law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are considered advanced weapons technology.” Musk’s post was included in the DOJ’s lawsuit, as were references to SpaceX not being able to hire people without at least a green card due to ITAR.

The suit also lists numerous other instances in which SpaceX employees and hiring managers posted public announcements stating that the company could only hire U.S. citizens and green card holders. Data provided by SpaceX to the DOJ indicated that from September 2018 to May 2022, the company only hired one individual who identified themselves as an asylee during the application process out of more than 10,000 hires and did not hire any individuals who identified as refugees in their applications during that period.

SpaceX’s hiring practices are in line with The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where (other than in extremely rare exceptions) you MUST be a U.S. citizen in order to work as a civil service employee.

The Justice Dept. is seeking “fair consideration and back pay for asylees and refugees who were deterred or denied employment at SpaceX due to the alleged discrimination.” It’s also pursuing civil penalties that may be determined by the court and policy changes to ensure SpaceX complies with the Immigration and Nationality Act’s non-discrimination requirement in the future.

The DOJ Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section is requesting that asylees or refugees contact the division if they either applied to a job at SpaceX and were rejected; were discouraged from applying to SpaceX because they weren’t a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; or were told by a recruiter or other SpaceX employee that the company could only hire U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke was known for pushing a radical, anti-white, and anti-police agenda before Joe Biden tapped her to lead the DOJ’s powerful civil rights division.

Clarke has shared “crackpot theories” about black supremacy, defended unrepentant cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, partnered with anti-Semites, pushed Jussie Smollett’s absurd hate crime allegations, and called for defunding the police.

Her frivolous lawsuit isn’t the first time Musk has been targeted by the Biden regime.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year charged Twitter (now X) with “deceptively using account security data to sell targeted ads,” a practice that predated Musk’s takeover over the platform.

During a House Judicial Committee oversight hearing last month, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) accused the FTC of trying to influence an independent assessment of Twitter’s privacy practices and “harassing” the platform to the point of obsession.

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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Photo “SpaceX Launch Pad” by Daniel Oberhaus. CC BY-SA 4.0.

 

 

 


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