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"The lawsuit alleges that, from at least September 2018 to May
2022, 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," the Justice Department said in a statement.
In job postings and public statements over several years, SpaceX
wrongly claimed that under federal regulations known as export
control laws, SpaceX could hire only U.S. citizens and lawful
permanent residents, sometimes referred to as "green card
holders," the Justice Department said.
The Justice Department also pointed to online posts from the
company's billionaire owner Musk as example of "discriminatory
public statements."
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."
Musk described the Justice Department lawsuit against SpaceX as
"weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes."
In a post on X, the SpaceX CEO said the company "was told
repeatedly that hiring anyone who was not a permanent resident
of the United States would violate international arms
trafficking law, which would be a criminal offense."
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice
Department’s civil rights division said a DOJ 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".
Clarke also said SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials
"actively discouraged" asylum recipients and refugees from
seeking work opportunities at the company.
The United States seeks fair consideration and back pay for
asylum recipients and refugees who were deterred or denied
employment at SpaceX due to the alleged discrimination, the
Justice Department said.
The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties in an amount to be
determined by court and policy changes to ensure SpaceX complies
with the federal non-discrimination mandate going forward.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in WashingtonAdditional reporting
by David Shepardson and Chandni Shah; Editing by Paul Grant,
Susan Heavey, Frances Kerry and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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