The DOJ is suing for hiring discrimination

IER alleged that immigration-related employment practices of SpaceX violated the U.S. Customs and Immigration Act (ARE illegal in the United States)

According to Musk, “SpaceX was told multiple times that hiring someone who was not a permanent resident of the U.S. would be a criminal offense.”

The IER subpoenaed the documents from the company more than a year later. The IER found reason to think that the company had engaged in a pattern or practice of unfair immigration-related employment practices.

SpaceX builds and launches rockets, which limits its capacity to export certain technologies and software under export control laws such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The department said that the permission of immigrants to live and work in the United States doesn’t go away, and they are on par with citizens and permanent residents.

Rejected applicants with asylum or refugee status had apt experience for the roles, including one person who graduated from Georgia Tech University and had nine years of engineering experience and another who the hiring manager said had “some impressive experience listed,” the Justice Department said in its lawsuit.