FREMONT, Calif. – Tesla’s Elon Musk is in a showdown with California officials over the reopening of a major factory, one of the most prominent examples of a powerful business defying health orders that require all but essential activities to cease.

Musk continued to ramp up production at the company’s Fremont facilities Tuesday, where the company produces its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles. Workers’ cars here filled up the company’s parking lot, with no signs of any enforcement actions by Alameda County officials, who have previously forbid the reopening as nonessential.

Meanwhile, Musk on Monday dared officials to arrest him. “Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”

Musk drew public support from the president on Tuesday. “California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW,” President Donald Trump tweeted. “It can be done Fast & Safely!”

Tesla on Saturday filed suit against Alameda County, where its Fremont, California factory is located, seeking an injunction against orders to stay closed. The suit alleged violations of the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.

Neetu Balram, a spokeswoman for Alameda County, said in a statement that the county hoped to work with Tesla to avoid any further escalation of the issue.

“We are addressing this matter using the same phased approach we use for other businesses which have violated the Order in the past, and we hope that Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures,” she said, adding that the county learned Monday the company was conducting business beyond minimum basic operations.

She said Tesla was expected to submit a plan late Monday detailing how it would reopen. “We look forward to reviewing Tesla’s plan and coming to agreement on protocol and a timeline to reopen safely,” she added.

Fremont police would need to enforce the county’s order. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The city’s mayor issued a statement in support of Tesla on Saturday.

In an interview, Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty added that while dialogue continues with Musk, “I can’t stop him from breaking the health order.” He credited the county’s tough stance in part with the low prevalence of the illness in the county, roughly 2,000 cases and 71 deaths.

On the possibility of arrests, Haggerty said, “I would sincerely hope not.” He added, “I don’t think that’s a good view for anybody – especially somebody that’s employing 10,000 of your constituents. I think cooler heads need to prevail on this.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Two workers at Tesla’s Fremont facilities, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared for their jobs, said they were concerned about the sudden escalation of production. One worker who reported to the factory over the weekend said people gathered in groups and there was little enforcement of social distancing practices.

Returning workers are shown an informational video about the need to abide by strict social distancing and given masks. Meanwhile, the factory began once again to churn out Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

“Everybody’s walking around without their mask on, talking, hanging out talking among themselves,” the worker said. “It’s scary.”

Musk’s aggressive push to reopen has gained the tacit support of conservatives aligned with the president and drawn the ire of liberals, including a California state assemblywoman who punctuated her displeasure with an expletive over the weekend.

Eric Trump, the president’s son, liked Musk’s tweet Monday.

As coronavirus shutdowns have dragged on, some states have moved more quickly to reopen, and protests have broken out to demand an end to the shutdown orders. In Silicon Valley, which has had some of the most restrictive orders in place for the longest time, a handful of tech elites have echoed and promoted Musk’s concerns.

California loosened restrictions earlier this month, allowing some commerce and manufacturing to resume, but stricter county orders supersede the state rules.

The company said in a blog post Saturday that it planned to reopen and laid out an argument for how it could safely do so. Earlier that day, Musk tweeted that he was considering relocating Tesla’s Palo Alto headquarters, located in another California county, to Texas or Nevada, and lambasted Alameda County’s response.

Musk has repeatedly played down the seriousness of the coronavirus, at one point calling the panic “dumb.” On the company’s earnings call late last month, he called the quarantine measures “fascist” and used profanities to describe what he saw as “forcibly imprisoning” people in their homes against their constitutional rights.

Musk’s erratic behavior continued this month when he tweeted that Tesla’s stock price was “too high,” sending shares plummeting during the middle of trading on May 1. Since then, he has consistently complained about the stay-at-home orders, saying Tesla has been unfairly singled out among large automakers and railing against California officials.

He took aim at the county’s interim public health officer, Erica Pan, who he derided over the weekend as “an unelected county official” and alleged she “illegally” overrode the state orders – despite county officials’ ability to supersede them.

Alameda County’s Haggerty said: “She’s not incompetent. That I don’t like. Elon Musk is a very smart man, very focused. I just wish that he wouldn’t disparage some of my staff.”

Musk also tried to keep the factory open at the beginning of the crisis in mid-March, as the Bay Area became the first major region to order residents to stay home. The county at the time told Tesla it did not count as an essential business.

Haggerty said the county’s dialogue with Tesla continues. Musk had pushed for Tesla to be able to staff a stamping plant to produce fenders and doors and other car body parts, ahead of a May 18 reopening date being negotiated by the county.

“That would ensure there was enough parts when everybody came back to work on the 18th,” he said, but the health department’s indicators did not yet say it was safe to do so.

Currently, conditions have affected morale at the plant, the employee who works there said.

“We’re extremely frustrated, angry, scared, that Elon is putting his cars before his workers,” the worker said. “He’s putting those cars before his employees and their well-being.”

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