Marko Elez, a 25-year-old engineer, recently became the first person to lose his job from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Elez’s resignation followed the revelation by the Wall Street Journal that he had made racially insensitive comments under an anonymous online account linked to his name.

Despite this controversy, Musk hinted at the possibility of Elez’s return to DOGE. Using his social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, Musk quoted a post by Vice President JD Vance advocating for Elez’s reinstatement, adding “To err is human, to forgive divine.”

In a bid to gauge public sentiment about Elez’s potential return, Musk conducted a poll on X. The question posed was whether the engineer who had made racist remarks should be reinstated. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of Elez’s return, with the poll drawing more than 385,000 votes.

During his time at DOGE, Elez was responsible for the Treasury Department, giving him direct access to the federal government’s payment system. This included sensitive information such as tax returns and Social Security payments of US citizens.

Elez’s controversial posts, which included statements promoting racial hatred and suggesting eugenic immigration policy, were originally made under his real name before he switched to an anonymous handle on X.

Following the Wall Street Journal’s report, Elez resigned from his position at DOGE. Musk, in addition to considering Elez’s return, also called for the sacking of WSJ journalist Katherine Long, who had reported on the controversy.

JD Vance, Trump’s Vice President, referred to Elez as a “kid” and supported his return to DOGE. Meanwhile, new reports surfaced about two other DOGE employees with questionable pasts. Gavin Kliger was reported to have amplified white supremacists, and Edward Coristine was allegedly fired from a previous internship for leaking company data to a competitor.

These revelations raise concerns about Musk’s DOGE team, who have access to the private data of American citizens as part of their roles. If Elez is reinstated at the U.S. Treasury, he will reportedly have the power to modify the code controlling trillions in spending.