As the feud between President Donald Trump and his former ally – multibillionaire Elon Musk – continues, Trump told reporters this week that he would “take a look” at deporting Musk. Could he really do it?
According to an expert cited by Al Jazeera, probably not.
“Denaturalization is limited to cases where the government can prove material fraud in their original applications,” said Michael Kagan, professor of law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
While it used to be more common, the outlet noted that denaturalization slowed down in the late 1960s after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. In a June 11 memo, the Department of Justice said it would be “prioritizing denaturalization” in cases where “an individual either ‘illegally procured’ naturalization or procured naturalization by ‘concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.’”
Musk was born in South Africa and later moved to Canada, where he also has citizenship. He first moved to the U.S. in 1992 to study at the University of Pennsylvania and became a naturalized citizen in 2002. Although Al Jazeera noted that The Washington Post reported on potential issues with the visas Musk had when he first came to the U.S., he maintains that he obtained the correct visas, first for study and then for work.
In addition to telling reporters that he would look into deporting Musk, per ABC News, Trump said in a Tuesday Truth Social post that “without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. He was referring in part to electric vehicle mandates that were left out of the spending bill Trump has been championing.
Al Jazeera said that as the CEO of the successful electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Musk stands to see sales fall with the elimination of tax credits worth up to $7,500 for purchases of electric vehicles (EVs) from September 30. Tesla sales already faltered this year as Musk stepped in to lead Trump’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one,” said Trump in his Tuesday Truth Social post. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far,” also referencing work Musk’s company SpaceX does to launch rockets and satellites into space. He added that: “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
In response to Trump’s comments, Musk said: “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now,” in a Tuesday post on X, a social media company that he owns. While Musk and Trump’s fallout has been mainly focused on the “Big Beautiful Bill”, Musk contends that he is opposed to the legislation because it adds too much to the national debt.
He continued criticizing the legislation this week as lawmakers scrambled to get it passed ahead of the July 4 holiday recess. Musk has hinted that he would start his own political party if the bill passes.
In other Trump/Musk feud news, Trump biographer Michael Wolff also said this week in an interview with The Daily Beast that the president indicated that his team provided The New York Times with information for their recent article on Musk’s drug use. According to The Independent, “White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed the claims.”