The Department of Justice (DOJ) has signaled that it will drop its case against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which had been accused of employment discrimination against asylum recipients and refugees. In a court filing on Thursday in Brownsville, Texas, DOJ lawyers requested that a judge lift the pause in proceedings so they could file a notice of dismissal. The DOJ stated it would dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Musk, who currently serves as a top adviser to President Donald Trump, was originally sued in August 2023. The DOJ had filed an administrative complaint alleging 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 lawsuit alleged that SpaceX falsely claimed federal laws and regulations restricted the company to hiring only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (green card holders). Following the lawsuit’s filing, Musk fired back on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “DOJ needs to sue themselves!” He attached a photo of a job posting from the Bureau of Prisons that explicitly required U.S. citizenship as a condition of employment.
“SpaceX 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,” Musk said in a separate post, as reported by FOX Business. “We couldn’t even hire Canadian citizens, despite Canada being part of NORAD! This is yet another case of weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes.”
SpaceX has denied any wrongdoing, stating in a November 2023 filing that export laws impose “strict limitations on whom it can employ.” The company added: “SpaceX follows strict policies and procedures to both ensure compliance with all export control laws and regulations and also prevent any unlawful discrimination.”
SpaceX also filed a lawsuit to block the administrative complaint, arguing that the case should not be overseen by an administrative judge. The company contended that these judges are improperly appointed by the U.S. attorney general, asserting that such powers should be reserved for officials appointed by the president. Meanwhile, Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) remain the targets of multiple lawsuits as the department continues its aggressive push to eliminate unnecessary federal spending.
Musk responded to the DOJ’s action on Friday, writing on X, “The Biden administration launched a massive multi-year lawsuit against SpaceX for not hiring asylum seekers, despite the fact that SpaceX is legally BARRED from hiring non-permanent residents under ITAR, because rockets are an advanced weapons technology. In other words, it was both illegal to hire asylum seekers and illegal not to hire asylum seekers!!”
