Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella And President Brad Smith Speak Out Against Trump’s Immigration Action

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, and the company’s President, Brad Smith, have spoken out against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent action against immigrants and refugees. Nadella and Smith joined many tech leaders and organizations from around the United States and the world in condemning President Trump’s orders to temporarily bar Muslim immigrants and refugees. Nadella commented on LinkedIn.

“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.”

Microsoft President Brad Smith had originally sent an email to all Microsoft employees condemning the decision. CEO Satya Nadella took to LinkedIn, praising Smith’s letter and pointing out that Microsoft would continue to advocate immigration. Here’s a snippet of Smith’s email that Nadella specifically highlights.

“As a company, Microsoft believes in a strong and balanced high-skilled immigration system. We also believe in broader immigration opportunities, like the protections for talented and law-abiding young people under the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, often called ‘Dreamers.’ We believe that immigration laws can and should protect the public without sacrificing people’s freedom of expression or religion. And we believe in the importance of protecting legitimate and law-abiding refugees whose very lives may be at stake in immigration proceedings.”

As part of the full letter that the company President Brad Smith had sent to his employees, he placed special emphasis on how this could affect the employees themselves. He wrote that Microsoft’s first priority whenever there has been a change in immigration laws anywhere in the world has always been to address the immediate needs of its employees and their families. He then proceeded on to reassure all the employees who would be affected by the passing of this order. He pointed that his current goal was to provide them with legal advice and assistance. Smith points out that a total of 76 Microsoft employees had been identified who could directly be affected by the passing of the new order. Smith assured his employees that these people had already been contacted. Smith further points out complicated scenarios that might face other employees with Green Cards, urging them to contact the CELA U.S. Immigration Team. Smith further reassured his employees saying:

“And of course, if you’re uncertain about whether you’re affected, use this same alias and let us know so we can work with you and answer your questions.”

Microsoft even made an official statement, as reported by TechCrunch, over the matter, saying that they share the “concerns about the impact of the executive order” on their employees who are from one of the seven listed countries, pointing out that all of these people have been living in the United States lawfully. The company announced that they were working to “provide legal advice and assistance” to these employees.

Trump signed the controversial order on Friday, January 27. The action indefinitely bars all Syrian Refugees from entering the country while also putting a temporary (120-day) bar on refugees from 6 other Muslim majority countries, viz. Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Further more, Trump’s order will deny US visa to the citizens of these Muslim-majority countries for the next 30 days, so that adequate “vetting” can be implemented. Trump announced that his decision would deter radical Islamist terrorists from entering U.S. The President declared, “We don’t want them here.”

“We don’t want to admit the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those that support our country and love, deeply, our people.”

I promise that our administration will ALWAYS have your back. We will ALWAYS be with you! pic.twitter.com/D0aOWhOH4X

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017

[Featured Image by Michel Euler/AP Images]