If Elon Musk lied on immigration forms, his US citizenship could be revoked

These questions, immigration lawyers say Ira KurzbanThis is called to see whether the applicant has obtained his or her residence lawfully, which is a prerequisite for citizenship. He says US immigration officials have become “very strict” on the issue over the past 10 years.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to an inquiry about whether the forms used by its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, asked exactly these questions at the time Musk might have been using them, but Experts say that he might have been asked. Essentially the same question, as the relevant law has not changed.

“Those grounds for deportation have existed for decades,” Yale-Lohr says, “and the forms at that time probably contained the same or similar questions.”

An immigrant who makes misrepresentations as part of the naturalization process may also face criminal risks: under US federal lawMaking a false statement or concealing any fact from the government carries a possible sentence of five years in prison.

Greg Siskind, pioneer immigration lawyerDoes not disagree that written law can expose someone who has lied about working without authorization and lose his or her citizenship, but says that as a practical matter, this is a physical Cannot be a fact.

“If he had disclosed it, would that have prevented him from receiving immigration benefits later?” he asks. “The answer is probably no.”

Yet Siskind believes there are serious questions here about, among other things, the nature of the professional relationship between the Musk brothers. And Musk’s past is highly relevant to the clearances he reportedly holds as a top government contractor with a broad portfolio national security related,

Even if Musk is found to be violating the law, he will not be summarily deported. “It’s generally quite difficult to revoke someone’s citizenship for a relatively minor status violation that occurred decades ago,” says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, who adds that it’s “a good thing, it Noting how easy it can be “to violate arcane immigration rules.”

However, many experts pointed out that under Trump the government did more than ever to denaturalize citizens. as frost wrote In 2019, the first year and a half of the Trump administration, USCIS opened an office dedicated to denaturalization, investigated thousands of citizens, and reported 95 to the Justice Department with a recommendation for deportation. (From 1990 to 2017, there was a average Only 11 denaturalization cases per year.)

Even if USCIS had strong evidence that Musk broke the law, experts say it would not handle the case administratively, but instead refer it to the U.S. attorney’s office. Prosecutors, who have wide discretion to take or reject cases, can then proceed, or not, as they see fit.

Musk authorizing the release of his immigration records under the Freedom of Information Act could resolve several open questions here. His lawyer, Spiro, did not respond to a question about whether he would do so.