The fallout of Elon Musk's social media battle with US President Donald Trump has been staggering to see, but many are now weighing up the potentially significant consequences the South African-born tech mogul could face if the White House decides to retalliate.
Following Elon Musk's swift departure from his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), many remained unsure as to whether his relationship with the president remained intact.
They appeared to be speaking far less than they had at the start of the year yet at the same time key social media posts appeared to indicate that the relationship remained amicable.
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Friction quickly appeared when Musk began to criticize key economic policy from Trump, which he had experience with following the president's tariffs a few months earlier, and tensions erupted when the pair took to X and Truth Social to vent their true feelings.
Musk claimed he was the key reason why the president won the election and also alleged that Trump's name was present in the Epstein Files, which the president retaliated against by claiming that Musk had 'TDS' and threatened to rip up all his government contracts.
One key comment in the fallout of the pair's online fight though came from former White House official Steve Bannon, who called for Musk to be deported and branded him an 'illegal alien'.
Musk's citizenship has come into question before as a petition calling for his Canadian citizenship to be revoked garnered significant attention, yet threatening the richest man in the world's status in America would carry far greater consequences.
Thankfully one legal expert on YouTube has chimed in to evaluate quite how possible Musk's deportation could actually end up being, and it's not as simple as you might expect.
The short answer, as explained by LegalEagle, is as follows: "Under the law, as it existed prior to January 21st, 2025, no, absolutely not." However, Trump's actions since regaining the Oval Office have made this a far more complicated issue.
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LegalEagle continues to explain that "Trump's attacks on the rules of law have really changed the game," and this is what opens up the possibility - however small - of Musk being 'legally' exiled from the country.
He uses the Trump administration's case against Mahmoud Khalil - who was detained for his role in pro-Palestinian protests and threatened with deportation despite being a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
The government's case against Khalil relied on the Immigration and Nationality Act, which opens up the possibility for 'aliens' to be deported if the Secretary of State believes their presence to have serious negative consequences for the United States' foreign policy. It was also claimed that Khalil's failure to disclose links to certain groups during his immigration process constituted fraud.
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LegalEagle deposits that, unlike Khalil, Musk's naturalized status - which was achieved in 2002 - gives him full constitutional protection that would be near-impossible to breach, but there are still loopholes.
"There are exceptions and this administration is willing to stretch the truth to make them work," LegalEagle explains. "If someone obtains citizenship through fraud, the government might revoke their citizenship. This process is known as denaturalization."
If the Trump administration managed to 'prove' that Musk did indeed lie during the naturalization process then that could open him up to deportation, and his brother Kimbal's previous admission that the pair were illegal immigrants for a short while - likely in between the expiry of their student visa and the point at which they gained a work visa - could be the key for that.
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Musk's role as head of SpaceX and Starlink could also leave him branded a security risk if the Trump administration deems that his interests don't align with America too.
The chances of all this happening - especially to someone as high profile as Musk - are extremely thin, but it is difficult to ignore that the Trump administration has already stretched - and in some cases allegedly ignored - the law as much as possible, so it would be impossible to completely rule out.
Musk might have an alternative though if you believe key foreign officials, as multiple major names in Russian politics have offered the billionaire asylum after his fight with Trump, which would likely leave him in a similar situation to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.