By News18
The feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk took a sharp turn as the US President said that he would consider deporting the tech billionaire who publicly criticised the administration鈥檚 tax-cut and spending bill. Elon Musk called the bill 鈥渦tterly insane and destructive鈥 following which Donald Trump asked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to investigate the subsidies which Elon Musk鈥檚 companies receive as he warned the Tesla boss that he could 鈥渓ose a lot more鈥 than the EV mandate.
So can Elon Musk be deported by Donald Trump? Here鈥檚 all you need to know
What Is Elon Musk鈥檚 Citizenship Status?
Elon Musk holds a US citizenship, which he obtained in 2002 through naturalization. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Elon Musk moved to Canada at 17 and later relocated to the United States, where he studied and eventually built a business empire that includes Tesla, SpaceX and X. Elon Musk is a triple citizen- of South Africa Canada, and the United States- but his legal and financial base of operations has long been centered in the US, where he also holds major contracts with the government.
Read more: 鈥楥ould Lose A Lot鈥︹: Trump Taps DOGE To Probe Elon Musk鈥檚 Subsidies, Teases His Deportation
Could Elon Musk Actually Be Deported Under US Law?
Under US immigration law, a naturalized citizen can only be stripped of citizenship under very limited and extreme conditions. According to a report in Newsweek, citizenship granted through naturalization can be revoked if it was 鈥減rocured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.鈥
Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert at Cornell Law School, told Wired that if allegations of Elon Musk illegally working in the US before legal status are proven true, 鈥渙n purely legal grounds, this would justify revoking citizenship, because if he had told the truth, he would not have been eligible for an H1-B, a green card, or naturalization.鈥
Amanda Frost, a legal scholar at the University of Virginia, said, 鈥淚f a noncitizen violated the terms of a nonimmigrant visa, and then adjusted to immigrant (green card) status without admitting the violation, and then naturalized without admitting the violation, that person could be denaturalized on the ground that their naturalization was illegally procured.鈥
Such cases are rare, require rigorous proof and involve extensive legal processes but only presidential power is not sufficient to unilaterally deport a naturalized citizen without due process.