President Trump said on Tuesday in response to questions about his former ally Elon Musk that he would consider expelling the billionaire. Musk has recently intensified his criticism of Trump's signature tax and spending bill.
When asked whether he would expel the South African-born entrepreneur (Musk is a U.S. citizen), Trump said to reporters at the White House, "I don’t know," and later added, "We need to look into it." He previously wrote on social media that without U.S. government subsidies, the Tesla CEO "might have to go back to his home in South Africa."
Trump's remarks mark the latest escalation in tensions between him and the world's richest person. Musk has ramped up his criticism of the Republican tax bill, which would accelerate the termination of consumer credit policies for electric vehicle purchases. As a result, Tesla's (TSLA) stock price, where Musk is CEO, widened its initial drop to 7.1%, marking the largest single-day decline since June 5.
Source of the conflict: The bill will eliminate electric vehicle subsidies.
Trump attributed Musk's opposition to the bill to the fact that it eliminated subsidies benefiting several of his companies. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump threatened on social media to cancel subsidies for Musk's companies and reiterated this warning to reporters.
Trump stated that Musk "will lose his electric vehicle authorization" and added that he "may lose much more than that." "Electric vehicle authorization" typically refers to a series of fuel economy standards and emissions restrictions that effectively force automakers to sell more electric vehicle models. The government has begun to roll back these policies (the pending Senate bill does not address them), but the tax and spending bill will terminate the tax credits for individual purchases of electric vehicles—this policy had previously helped boost electric vehicle sales.
Musk had previously fiercely criticized this bill, calling it a "crazy spending bill," and threatened to help create a third political party in the U.S. But he denied that his opposition to the bill was to retain government subsidies for his companies.
Musk supported Trump in the 2024 election and later served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), focused on significantly reducing federal government personnel and responsibilities, until leaving in late May. The two had a public falling out over Musk's criticism of the tax bill, with both attacking each other on social media. Although this dispute seemed to have cooled down, Musk recently reignited tensions by repeatedly posting criticisms of the bill.
Trump mentioned the federal cost-cutting plan, stating, "We might have to let DOGE deal with Elon. This monster DOGE might have to go back and 'eat' Elon, wouldn't that be terrible?"
Can Trump expel Musk?
U.S. law states that citizenship acquired through naturalization can be revoked if it was obtained by "concealing material facts or making false statements." Amanda Frost, a legal expert at the University of Virginia, told Newsweek: "If a non-citizen violates the terms of a non-immigrant visa and then adjusts to immigrant (green card) status without acknowledging the violation, and then naturalizes without acknowledging the violation, that person may have their citizenship revoked on the grounds that their naturalization was 'illegally obtained.'"
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School, stated that if the allegations of Musk's illegal work are true, "from a purely legal standpoint, this would be sufficient grounds to revoke his citizenship, because if he had been truthful at the time, he would not have qualified for an H1-B visa, green card, or naturalization."
Neama Rahmani, president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers Association, stated that it would actually be difficult for the Trump administration to revoke Musk's U.S. citizenship.
He stated: "As a naturalized U.S. citizen, it would be difficult for the Trump administration to expel Musk. The only way is through a legal process to revoke his citizenship. This requires the government to prove that the applicant lied or committed fraud during the application or naturalization process, thereby revoking his citizenship. After that, the person would revert to their previous nationality status and could then be expelled. But this situation is extremely rare."
"Even if there is evidence of fraud, it must be 'intentional' and 'substantial.' In other words, it must be done intentionally and have a direct impact on the decision to grant citizenship. This is a high threshold; accidental mistakes or minor omissions are not enough. Judges are generally reluctant to strip someone of their citizenship. Revocation of citizenship has historically been used in extremely egregious cases, such as Nazi collaborators hiding their war crimes. If the Trump administration tries to revoke Musk's citizenship, it will face a difficult legal battle."
Musk was born in South Africa in 1971 and became a U.S. citizen in 2002 after living and working in the country for many years. Musk's mother, Maye Musk, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, which allowed Musk to automatically acquire Canadian citizenship by descent. Musk moved to Canada in 1989 and attended the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. in 1992.
In 2024, the Washington Post published an article claiming that Musk "had illegally worked in the U.S." The report alleged that Musk founded a company while on a student visa in 1995, but he never registered at Stanford University as promised.
The report cited a 2005 email disclosed in a defamation lawsuit, in which Musk admitted that he applied to Stanford University only because he "did not have the legal right to stay in the U.S." The report also stated that Musk entered the U.S. on a J-1 student visa but worked for what later became Zip2 without obtaining the necessary work visa, citing "statements from former business partners, court records, and company documents."
Last month, after a heated clash between Musk and Trump, Steve Bannon, who had served as Trump's chief strategist during his first presidential term, called for Musk to be expelled from the U.S.
In an interview with the New York Times, the well-known conservative commentator stated, "They should initiate a formal investigation into his immigration status because I firmly believe he is an illegal immigrant and should be expelled immediately." He later reiterated this view on his podcast, saying, "Musk is here illegally and must be kicked out. You should send those other people (referring to illegal immigrants) back home. Let's start with the South Africans, okay?"
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