Trump gives deportation threat to Elon Musk. But US President's latest target might have an exit plan

Time of India

2 days ago

Can Trump deport Elon Musk?
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Elon Musk's Canadian citizenship
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The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk re-ignited this week with the blowup centered around Musk's opposition to Trump's signature tax bill. Musk posted escalating attacks against Trump's sweeping spending bill on his social media platform X, calling the legislation 'insane' and vowing to form a new political party if it passed late Monday."It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!," Musk posted Monday afternoon. In political terms, "pork" generally refers to spending in lawmakers' constituencies.In response, Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will "have to take a look" at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill. The President pushed back on his Truth Social media platform, claiming Tesla CEO Musk was upset about the bill eliminating the electric vehicle (EV) mandate and that "Elon would have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa." When asked by reporters later in the morning if he would deport Musk, Trump said, "We'll have to take a look."Trump likely got the idea of deporting Elon Musk after the President's advisor Steve Bannon in July had called for Musk to be deported from the United States. Also known as 'Trump's brain', Bannon claimed Musk, who is originally from South Africa, was in America illegally. He also claimed that Musk's reported drug use should be probed and that his high-level clearances should be suspended.For Trump to deport Elon Musk, he would first have to be legally stripped of his citizenship. Musk, originally from South Africa, became a U.S. citizen in 2002 through the naturalization process after several years of living and working in the country. Prior to that, he was a citizen of Canada.Musk came to the US to study on a J-1 visa. Musk was reportedly an illegal immigrant when he began his career in the United States. He entered the US on a student visa in 1995. Though he said he would enroll at Stanford University, he never did so.Instead, he founded his company Zip2 – a software firm which was later bought by Compact for over $300 million.The Washington Post reported that Musk in a 2005 email used in a defamation lawsuit said that he applied to Stanford because he otherwise had 'no legal right to stay in the country.'US law states that citizenship gained through naturalization can be revoked if it was "procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation."Elon Musk has the citizenship of three countries: South Africa, Canada and the United States. He gained the citizenship of Canada at birth, when he was born in Pretoria, South Africa. Musk's mother, Maye Musk, was born a Canadian citizen in Regina, Saskatchewan, so Musk automatically inherited Canadian citizenship by descent, according to CIC News.The current Canadian law states that children born outside of Canada can inherit Canadian citizenship from their parents, but only for one generation. This means that if a parent is a Canadian citizen—whether by birth or naturalization—their child will also be a citizen, even if born abroad.In February, more than 200,000 people from Canada signed a parliamentary petition calling for their country to strip Elon Musk's Canadian citizenship because of the tech billionaire's alliance with Donald Trump. The petition accused Musk of having 'engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada' by acting as an adviser to Trump.The petition asserted that Musk's alignment with Trump makes him 'a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty'. It asked the then Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to take away Musk's Canadian passport and revoke his citizenship with immediate effect.Responding to the petition, the billionaire wrote on X: "Canada is not a real country." The post was later deleted.However, according to Canadian laws, citizenship of a person can be revoked only if someone has committed fraud, misrepresented themselves or knowingly hid information on an immigration or citizenship application.Despite the petition's widespread support, immigration lawyers by and large said the document is unlikely to affect Musk's Canadian citizenship. Citizenship in Canada can only be revoked if it can be proven that fraud or misrepresentation was committed to obtain it."Before they could move to do this, they would need to introduce legislation, there would have to be amendments to the current Citizenship Act," Ramo, former chair of the Canadian Bar Association's immigration section, was quoted as saying by the CBS News."There's no provision that would allow them to pursue revocation of citizenship of a Canadian birth, by virtue of his birth to a Canadian mother." Ramo said it is "fairly rare" for Canadian citizenship to be revoked."A person's citizenship can be revoked if the person obtained, retained, renounced or resumed his or her citizenship by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances," Larivière said. He said the process includes several steps and a decision by a Federal Court judge unless the citizen in question asks the immigration minister to make the decision.