Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, responded to a tweet about the lawsuit from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) by saying that the “DOJ needs to sue themselves.”
The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of discriminating against refugees and asylum seekers in their hiring practices.
Musk made this comment in reply to a tweet on a social media platform now called X, which used to be called Twitter.
The lawsuit claims that from September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX discouraged refugees and asylum seekers from applying for jobs and even rejected their applications. This suggests a bias based on their citizenship status, which would go against the Immigration and Nationality Act.
According to the lawsuit, SpaceX advertised that it only hired US citizens and lawful permanent residents, but the Justice Department argues that this information was both incorrect and discriminatory.
Elon Musk’s public statements are also being looked at in relation to the lawsuit. A tweet from June 2020 is mentioned, where Musk seemed to suggest that having a “green card” was necessary for employment at SpaceX due to the complexity of rocket technology. This is seen as an example of statements that could have contributed to the alleged bias.
As of now, SpaceX has not provided an immediate response to these allegations.
