The lawsuit cited a June 2020 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Musk to his then 36 million followers that said: “U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology.”

The Justice Department also pointed to online posts from the company’s billionaire owner Musk as example of “discriminatory public statements.”

There aren’t a lot of details.

The DoJ release is “Justice Department Sues SpaceX for Discriminating Against Asylees and Refugees in Hiring”.

Because SpaceX works with certain goods, software, technology and technical data (referred to here as export-controlled items), SpaceX must comply with export control laws and regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations. Under these regulations, asylees, refugees, lawful permanent residents, U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals working at U.S. companies can access export-controlled items without authorization from the U.S. government. Therefore, these laws do not require SpaceX to treat asylees and refugees differently than U.S. citizens or green card holders.

SpaceX hired only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, from September 2018 to September 2020… The lawsuit alleges that, from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them.

SpaceX recruits and hires for a variety of positions, including welders, cooks, crane operators, baristas and dishwashers, as well as information technology specialists, software engineers, business analysts, rocket engineers and marketing professionals. The jobs at issue in the lawsuit are not limited to those that require advanced degrees.

DoJ asks those might have been affected to contact them. Effects might include being rejected, discouraged from applying, et cetera.