The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) for discriminating against asylees and refugees in hiring. 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, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) for discriminating against asylees and refugees in hiring. 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, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

  • Designate
    4•11 months ago

    uuuuuhhhh, TIL Must be a new thing cause i do remember is 100% was a thing to protect aerospace secrets.

    • Hillock
      27•11 months ago

      It’s easy to misinterpret the law because it states you can only hire U.S. Persons without requiring approval. And naturally people would assume U.S. Persons means citizens. But the term also includes permanent residents, asylees, and refugees.

      So SpaceX can’t hire immigrants on a temporary visa without a lot of effort. But refugees and asylees are explicitly allowed to work at such companies.

    • hypelightfly
      16•11 months ago

      It’s not new. Refugees and people with asylum are considered US persons, it’s literally written into the law (ITAR) protecting aerospace secrets.

      • Designate
        4•11 months ago

        Wow so every doco i have read/watched on the space race has interpreted the law incorrectly.

        • hypelightfly
          18•11 months ago

          It’s not an interpretation. It’s defined in relatively simple to understand English.

          U.S. Person - a natural person who is a lawful permanent resident as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20) or who is a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

          Relevant portion of 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3):

          [A protected person] is an alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence, is granted the status of an alien lawfully admitted for temporary residence under section 1160(a) or 1255a(a)(1) of this title, is admitted as a refugee under section 1157 of this title, or is granted asylum under section 1158 of this title;

    • stopthatgirl7OP
      7•11 months ago

      This is literally from the Department of Justice, so I’m assuming they know the laws about these things.