As the feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and former White House adviser Elon Musk reignited in early July 2025, the president suggested he might look into whether he could deport Musk. 

The fight between Trump and Musk has largely revolved around Musk's public criticism of the president's 2025 budget bill, which Congress passed before Trump signed it into law on July 4. Trump claimed Musk was angry over cuts to electric-vehicle tax credits in the bill — breaks that would have benefited Musk's company Tesla. 

On July 1, a reporter asked the president whether he would deport Musk, who is the world's richest man. Trump said in response, "I don't know. We'll have to take a look."

Trump's comments sparked widespread discussion online and led Snopes readers to search our website for information about the president deporting Musk.

Here's a breakdown of what we know about Musk's U.S. citizenship status and whether it would be possible for the Trump administration to deport him:

Musk is a U.S. citizen, according to multiple reports

Despite online claims to the contrary, Musk has been a U.S. citizen since 2002, according to multiple reports. 

U.S. citizens, like Musk, cannot be deported, as the nonprofit Immigrant Defense Project explains. But a person can lose their citizenship under certain circumstances, which may leave them vulnerable to deportation, according to the group. We explain how someone could lose their citizenship later in this story.

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971, according to a bio on the New Mexico Museum of Space History's website. He later moved to Canada and obtained citizenship in that country through his mother, CNN reported, citing biographies of the billionaire.

In 1992, Musk came to the U.S. to study at the University of Pennsylvania. The university said it awarded Musk his undergraduate degrees in May 1997, as Snopes previously reported.

Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002, according to Walter Isaacson's biography of him. He was eligible to do so after marrying his first wife, Justine, Isaacson wrote.

There has been ongoing debate about whether Musk previously resided in the U.S. without legal documentation. In an investigation published in October 2024, The Washington Post reported Musk launched his career in the U.S. by working illegally.

Musk denied that he worked in the U.S. without authorization, sharing the following X post on Oct. 26, 2024:

I was in fact allowed to work in the US. 

The Biden puppet is lying.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2024

Snopes previously published an in-depth report on the issue. Because immigration records generally are not open to the public, we were unable to confirm Musk's current citizenship status or whether he was ever in the U.S. illegally — though his brother once said the two were "illegal immigrants." At the time, Musk countered by saying it was a "gray area."

Citizens can't be deported unless citizenship is revoked

U.S. citizens cannot be deported, as the nonprofit Immigrant Defense Project and other legal experts explained.

"Legally speaking, a person recognized as a U.S. citizen, whether by birth or naturalization, cannot be deported. Citizenship provides full protection under the U.S. Constitution," the Texas-based law firm Davis & Associates said on its website. 

Naturalization refers to the process of becoming a U.S. citizen for noncitizens born outside of the country. Musk reportedly became a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process in 2002, as we explained earlier.

However, the federal government can revoke a naturalized immigrant's U.S. citizenship if it can "prove fraud or misrepresentation during the naturalization process," immigration lawyer Vania Stefanova wrote on the Herman Legal Group website. The legal process of taking away someone's citizenship is referred to as denaturalization.

If the denaturalization case is successful, the person's citizenship is revoked and they revert to their prior immigration status, Stefanova wrote. That person could then be subject to deportation.

In Musk's case, the key question is "whether he misrepresented himself on his I-485 adjustment of status application and/or N-400" application for naturalization, Richard Herman, an immigration lawyer and founder of Herman Legal Group, told Snopes via email.

There's no proof Musk lied on his immigration paperwork, and Herman noted it's "impossible to know" if he did because we don't have copies of the forms. 

Someone like Musk — whose immigration journey has been the subject of speculation, including claims that he may have worked illegally while on a student visa — "could theoretically be at risk of denaturalization," according to Stefanova. That risk would exist if Musk did work illegally in the U.S. while on an F-1 student visa and intentionally hid that information, and that unlawful work would have disqualified him from getting a green card and later U.S. citizenship, she wrote. 

History of denaturalization in the U.S.

For most of U.S. history, denaturalization has been rare. It was "mainly used in egregious cases against those who were deemed to be war criminals or former Nazis," according to the nonprofit Asian Law Caucus. Denaturalization has also been used in limited cases to target communities of color, the nonprofit said.  

But the federal government has ramped up denaturalization efforts in recent years, according to experts.

For example, former President Barack Obama's administration "used improved digital tools to identify potential cases of naturalization fraud from years before," according to Cassandra Burke Robertson, a professor at Case Western Reserve University's law school.

During Trump's first presidential term, his administration further expanded denaturalization efforts. In a January 2025 post on its website, the Asian Law Caucus said, in part:

Between 2017 and 2020, the Trump administration pursued far more denaturalization cases than any prior administration. In 2018, USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] created a new office focused on denaturalization investigations, including of people the government suspected of green card fraud.

The Biden administration "created a new Department of Justice (DOJ) office dedicated to prosecuting denaturalizations" in 2020, according to the Asian Law Caucus.

In a DOJ memo dated June 11, 2025, the second Trump administration set denaturalization as one of its top civil enforcement priorities. 

"The Civil Division shall prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence," the DOJ memo read, in part.

Despite the federal government's efforts, "only a very small percentage of naturalized U.S. citizens are at risk of being targeted for denaturalization," the Asian Law Caucus said in January 2025.