On Thursday, the Biden administration reportedly filed a lawsuit against SpaceX, an Elon Musk-owned rocket and satellite corporation, alleging hiring bias against those seeking asylum and refugees.
The regulations prohibit granting access to export-controlled goods to foreigners without the Department of State or Department of Commerce’s permission, but they authorize US citizens, residents, refugees, and asylum seekers, the lawsuit claims.
The billionaire firm owner Musk’s internet postings were also cited by the Justice Department as instances of “discriminatory public statements.”
Regardless of citizenship, both refugees and those seeking asylum are shielded from hiring discrimination under U.S. law.
Several recruiters also used legal justifications to turn down candidates.
SpaceX only employed one asylum applicant between 2018 and 2022, four months after the Justice Department started looking into the firm.
The corporation has received contracts worth billions of dollars from federal organizations like NASA for satellite and telecommunication technologies.
A request for comment to the case was not immediately answered by SpaceX.
After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion last year, South African immigrant and naturalized US citizen Elon Musk is currently engaged in additional legal disputes with the federal government.
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