Companies Respond To Trump Immigration Order

On Friday (Jan. 27), President Trump signed an executive order to halt the admission of refugees, ban the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely and stop citizens of several Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. — at first, including any green card or visa holders, though that has changed as of Sunday, according to White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

The American Civil Liberties Union has already filed a legal challenge to the order, and a New York federal court granted an emergency stay to allow those who landed or are currently in transit to the U.S. with a valid visa to enter the country and stay.

Since the order was issued, a number of the nation’s largest tech companies have expressed concern about the ban, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, among many others.

Google, for one, recalled its employees from abroad, writing in an official statement: “We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S. We’ll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.”

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, spoke out in favor of immigration in a LinkedIn post, writing: “As an immigrant and as a CEO, I’ve both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country and for the world. We will continue to advocate on this important topic.”

At least 76 of Microsoft’s employees are affected by Trump’s order, the company said. Microsoft’s chief legal officer, Brad Smith, was quoted as saying: “But there may be other employees from these countries who have U.S. green cards rather than a visa who may be affected, and there may be family members from these countries that we haven’t yet reached.”

Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, took to Twitter to say that many Fortune 500 companies are founded by immigrants or their children, writing: “All ethnicities should have access to opportunity — founding principle of U.S.”