Elon Musk could have his US citizenship revoked if he lied about his immigration documents
These questions, immigration lawyers say Ira Kurzbanis required to see whether the applicant has valid residence, a prerequisite for citizenship. U.S. immigration authorities have become “very precise” on this point over the past 10 years, he said.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to questions about whether the forms used by its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, accurately asked these questions at the time. point whether Musk used them or not, but experts say he should have been asked. The questions are essentially similar because the relevant law has not changed.
“Those grounds for deportability have been in place for decades,” Yale-Loehr said, “and forms back then may have had similar or identical questions.”
An immigrant who makes false statements during the naturalization process may also face the risk of criminal prosecution: According to United States federal lawLying falsely or concealing material facts from the government is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Greg Siskind, frontman immigration lawyerdisagreed that the law as written could cause someone who lied about working illegally to lose their civil rights, but said that in practice it might not turn out to be a material fact.
“If he disclosed that, would that prevent him from receiving immigration benefits later?” he asked. “The answer is probably no.”
However, Siskind believes that there are serious questions here about the nature of the professional relationship between the Musk brothers. And Musk’s past is highly relevant to the interests he reportedly holds as a top government contractor with an extensive stock portfolio. related to national security.
Even if Musk is found to have broken the law, he will not be immediately deported. “It is generally quite difficult to revoke someone’s citizenship for relatively minor violations of prior status,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. there”. violating complex immigration regulations.”
However, under Trump, some experts have pointed out that the government has done more to denaturalize citizens than before. Like frost wrote in 2019, during the first year and a half of the Trump administration, USCIS opened an office dedicated to decoding citizenship, investigating thousands of citizens and reporting 95 to the Department of Justice with recommendations for deportation. (From 1990 to 2017 there was medium There are only 11 cases of loss of citizenship each year.)
Even if USCIS has solid evidence that Musk violated the law, according to experts, it will not handle the matter administratively but may refer the matter to the U.S. attorney’s office. Ky. Prosecutors, who have discretion to accept or reject cases, can then proceed or not, as they see fit.
Many of the open questions here could be clarified by Musk allowing his immigration records to be released under the Freedom of Information Act. His lawyer, Spiro, did not respond to a question about whether he did so.
