The Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against SpaceX alleging discrimination against asylees and refugees in the corporate’s hiring over a virtually four-year period in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Our investigation found that SpaceX didn’t fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees due to their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire no matter their qualification, in violation of federal law,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DoJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in an announcement. “Our investigation also found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged asylees and refugees from searching for work opportunities at the corporate.”
SpaceX warned off non-citizens in job postings and public statements from applying for work at the corporate, saying only U.S. residents and lawful everlasting residents could apply as a consequence of “export control laws,” the DoJ said. Nonetheless, these laws don’t probit hiring non-citizens, it said, adding that asylees and refugees have permission to work within the U.S. “and so they stand on equal footing with U.S. residents and lawful everlasting residents under export control laws.”
Those public statements were made by SpaceX’s CEO, who’s Elon Musk, and other company officials and recruiters, says the 13-page grievance filed in federal court.
The period in query goes from not less than September 2018 to May 2022, DoJ said.
SpaceX is subject to export control laws but these same laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, don’t prohibit asylees and refugees from applying to, and dealing for, the corporate, DoJ said.
The department also said that SpaceX didn’t “fairly consider and refused” asylees and refugees that did apply for jobs with the corporate and that its “discriminatory hiring practices were routine, widespread, and longstanding.”
SpaceX is a key launch provider of satellites and other missions for the U.S. government. The corporate also builds, launches, and operates the Starlink satellite communications constellation.
The DoJ’s investigation began on May 29, 2020, by the Immigration and Worker Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division. SpaceX was notified on June 8, 2020, that the investigation was underway.