Elon Musk's SpaceX has been sued by the Department of Justice for allegedly discriminating against asylum recipients and refugees in hiring.

The DOJ lawsuit stated that the satellite 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." This happened in the period between September 2018 and May 2022.

According to Reuters, SpaceX wrongly claimed that the company could only hire US citizens and lawful permanent residents, also known as "green card holders." However, the DOJ says this statement is false and violates the law.

In addition, the lawsuit pointed to social media posts by its high-profile billionaire owner, Elon Musk, as an example of discrimination, as Musk reportedly made several "discriminatory public statements."

One of the examples cited by the DOJ lawsuit is a tweet by Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of X, formerly Twitter, where he stated, "U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology."

However, the X and SpaceX CEO slammed the lawsuit and stated that it was a "weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes." He then claimed that his company "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."

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US Department of Justice Says Elon Musk's SpaceX 'Actively Discouraged' Hiring Asylum Recipients

US Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the US Department of Justice's civil rights division released a statement regarding the lawsuit against SpaceX and stated that the company "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."

The DOJ launched an investigation into the matter and found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials "actively discouraged" asylum recipients and refugees from working for the company. This includes Elon Musk himself who has been tweeting about the alleged ban.

The data on SpaceX employees shows this, as, in a 4-year period, the company had over 100,000 hires. Of that number, SpaceX has only hired one asylum recipient. This was identified in his application, though CNBC noted that this lone hire only came after the company was notified about a DOJ investigation.

SpaceX Currently Gearing Up To Launch 4 Fresh ISS Crew Members

As SpaceX is facing a DOJ lawsuit, the Elon Musk-owned company is about to attempt to launch 4 fresh crew members to the International Space Station.

According to CBS News, this is now the second attempt to launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. The crew is made up of three men and one woman, and the liftoff is expected to happen on Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center around 3:27 am. It is expected to dock at the ISS at around 8:39 am on Sunday.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: DOJ sues SpaceX, alleges discriminatory hiring practices against refugees - Yahoo Finance