Musk Claps Back At Biden Admin - 'DOJ Needs To Sue Themselves!' After SpaceX Hit With 'Absurd Lawsuit'

The Biden Department of Justice is facing the ire and derision of SpaceX CEO and X.com owner Elon Musk after the DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging the aerospace firm engaged in employment discrimination, refusing to hire refugees and asylees. Musk threw the case in the department's face suggesting "DOJ needs to sue themselves!"

According to Fox Business, the DOJ, in announcing its lawsuit, alleged that Musk's company "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)." Biden's litigation arm claims that SpaceX has falsely cited federal laws and regulations restricting the company from hiring anyone other than U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Musk reposted commentary from Alex Tabarrok, a professor of economics at George Mason University, observed: "Do you know who else advertises that only US citizens can apply for a job? The DOJ," to which Musk quipped, "DOJ needs to sue themselves!"

As reported by Fox Business, Musk explained in another post, "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," he said. "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."

In the text of the lawsuit, the DOJ makes the claim that asylees and refugees are permitted under the law to live and work in the U.S. without exception and that there are no such restrictions on them regarding work for companies that must comply with export control regulations. Musk in his previous posts had cited the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) as the reasoning behind this policy. 

Independent journalist Ian Miles Cheong opined that the DOJ's "absurd lawsuit is, well, absurd beyond words and clearly a politically motivated attack against Elon Musk in an attempt to rein him in and put his ambitions in check under the Biden administration."

Tom Mueller CEO and CTO at Impulse, a SpaceX competitor, weighed in commenting, "So, if I let a non-US citizen see our rocket hardware, I go to ITAR jail, but if i don't hire a non US citizen I get sued by DoJ. Got it"

The DOJ is reportedly seeking, "fair consideration and back pay for asylees and refugees who were deterred or denied employment at SpaceX due to the alleged discrimination," in addition to punitive fines and policy changes from SpaceX, according to ZeroHedge.

You can read the lawsuit here:

DOJ SpaceX Lawsuit Aug. 24,... by CNBC.com