Elon Musk Expresses His Disapproval Of Trump’s Immigration Orders
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Solar City and OpenAI, has spoken out against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent action against immigrants and refugees. Elon Musk expressed his disapproval on Twitter writing that the refugees “don’t deserve to be rejected.”
“Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They’ve done right, not wrong & don’t deserve to be rejected.”
Elon Musk took to Twitter to express his disapproval.
The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017
Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They've done right,not wrong & don't deserve to be rejected.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017
But many of Musk’s followers on Twitter argued that his criticism was too mild and didn’t go far enough. And the fact that Musk had just accepted Trump’s offer to serve in the “Manufacturing Jobs Initiative” a day before all this didn’t help his case. Musk, who is also a part of President Trump’s economic advisory board, is relatively inclined towards the President in terms of manufacturing, given his plan of building a massive battery plant, known as the Gigafactory, in Sparks, Nevada. Set to complete in 2020, the plant will employ 6,500 people. Musk had a meeting with President Trump in the White House last Monday, and it was announced on Friday that he would be joining the President’s “Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.”
JUST IN: President Trump announces group of business leaders and CEOs to be part of his "Manufacturing Jobs Initiative" pic.twitter.com/21bDbhrPcw
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) January 27, 2017
Trump’s decision has faced a lot of backlash from leaders of the tech industry, with the likes of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Lyft CEO Logan Green, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, among others, protesting Trump’s decision. And compared to them, Musk’s response has been a bit meek. While the likes of Y Combinator president Sam Altman and Google co-founder Sergey Brin were out protesting, Musk went on tweeting, angering a lot of his followers in the process. At one point Musk even asked for suggestions so that he could take them to the President.
Please read immigration order. Lmk specific amendments. Will seek advisory council consensus & present to President. https://t.co/qLpbsP4lEk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017
Trump’s decision, which temporarily bars all immigrants and refugees from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen has met with a lot of criticism, particularly because many have perceived it as being biased against Muslims. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a refugee herself who came from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1948 with her family, pointed out that “by specifically targeting Muslim-majority countries for these immigration bans, and by expressing a clear preference for refugees who are religious minorities,” there was no doubt that Trump’s orders were biased against Muslims. She further added:
“And when one faith is targeted, it puts us all at risk.”
Trump believes that his decision will deter radical Islamist terrorists from coming to the United States. He justified his decision by saying:
“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.”
As of now, it isn’t clear exactly how many people Trump’s decision will affect. Ava Benach, a partner at Benach Collopy LLP, a law firm that specializes in immigration, says that the firm had advised all of its clients from the seven countries who have green cards or any type of H-1B visa not to travel outside the U.S for a while, also pointing out that the order would take effect immediately.
“No one is really sure whether a green card holder from these seven countries can return to the U.S. now. It’s fairly clear that an H-1B visa holder can’t. If anyone in these situations has the misfortune to have gone abroad recently, it’s a treacherous moment, possibly for green card holders too.”
Trump also passed a different order for the rebuilding of the Military on Friday.
“As we prepare our budget request for Congress, our military strength will be questioned by no one and neither will our dedication to peace. And we do want peace.”
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 Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
