[tomder55]

There is a national security Cold War law Congress passed in 1976 called International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR ) which restricts people having access to sensitive missile technology to American citizens or legal migrants . According to Wiki ;US persons (including organizations; see legal personality) can face heavy fines if they have, without authorization or the use of an exemption, provided foreign persons with access to ITAR-protected defense articles, services or technical data.

International Traffic in Arms Regulations - Wikipedia

Enforcement of this law ramped up in the late 1990s with concern that sensitive US technology was being transferred to China.

The DOJ argues that from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX discouraged refugees and asylees from applying to the company “by wrongly stating that SpaceX can only hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. "The lawsuit states SpaceX “failed to fairly consider” and “refused to hire” the asylees and refugees who ended up applying anyway. It also alleges that SpaceX “wrongly claimed” that the US’s export control laws allowed it to only hire US citizens and lawful residents. Additionally, the DOJ claims SpaceX hired “only” US citizens and green card holders from September 2018 to September 2020.
DOJ sues SpaceX for hiring discrimination - The Verge

It is true that Musk has stated that he was restricted by ITAR in his hiring practices ;as a clear reading of the regulation suggests .


Elon Musk on X: "@21aeax US law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are considered advanced weapons technology" / X (twitter.com)

Oh the law says a foreigner can be hired all right . But it is a tedious ;time consuming and costly process to do so.

The very restrictions of the law put Musk between a rock and a hard place .

In addition, once the foreign person is onboarded, and before the appropriate export authorization is obtained, the company must implement internal controls to protect against unauthorized electronic or visual disclosure of controlled information to that foreign person. Those controls could include passwords on file sharing sites and employee badge coding to limit access to certain areas of a factory. Those pressures lead some companies to seek out U.S. citizens for positions involving export controls and potentially violate anti-discrimination laws.

Refresher: How to Comply With U.S. Export Controls and Anti-Discrimination Laws When Recruiting and Hiring Foreign Nationals | Government Contracts & Investigations Blog (governmentcontractslawblog.com)

In addition businesses hiring "undocumented immigrants" face criminal and civil penalties under US law Title 8 U.S.C § 1324.

It is true that Clueless Joe and his DHS stooge Alejandro Mayorkas gutted enforcement of the hiring of illegals . But the law is still on the books.
A2X1018000707-20211012083223 (dhs.gov)

DOJ stated

Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Sues SpaceX for Discriminating Against Asylees and Refugees in Hiring | United States Department of Justice


IF SpaceX had hired any illegal the State Department would have immediately sued it for violating other laws relating to ITAR . The law is very clear. If they hire illegals then not only is SpaceX liable ;but the individual managers are also liable .
DOJ is looking for penalties AND for compensation for any illegal that applied for a job.


The administration considers Musk an enemy since the Twitter files were released to the public. It has almost certainly pressured the FAA to slow walk any launch license approvals for SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy projects,

Eric Berger on X: "It's official now. The FAA has delayed the release of its environmental review of SpaceX's Starship launch site in South Texas until at least May 31. https://t.co/v23q4RUOko https://t.co/YmCxGKcrhC" / X (twitter.com)


This is a simply a punitive shakedown against someone who they consider to be a political opponent.

[jlisenbe]

Putin would feel right at home in this current White House.