Tech Giants Respond to Trumps Executive Order
As many people know on Friday, January 27th President Trump signed an Executive Order putting a temporary ban on entering the US for people from certain middle eastern countries for 90 days and an indefinite ban on people from Syria. This was met with much controversy and outcry from both Americans and those who may have been traveling to the US whether it was to go back to school or for work.
Tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Facebook also made their stance clear. For those who do not know the history of Apple Steve Jobs birth father was a Syrian National when in immigrated to the United States in 1949. If the ban that took place this past Saturday was in place back in 1949 there would be no Steve Jobs because his father met his birth mother in the United States. This example shows how a ban on immigration can affect the progress of technology or any other field for that matter. In an email Tim Cook stated
"Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do. I've heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support,"
Google in response to President Trumps Executive Order created a crisis fund of $4 million. This money is to go to various organizations, one of which will be the ACLU. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google stated in a tweet on Jan 29th saying “For generations, this country has been home to immigrants like Sanaz. Her story is playing out all over the country. Google is with you.”. His tweet references an employee who has been affected by this order.
Mark Zuckerburg spoke out as well against President Trump's order saying in a Facebook post,
"We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don't pose a threat will live in fear of deportation".
Both Google and Apple have made sure that those employees who are affected by President Trumps Executive Order are getting the assistance they need thankfully ensuring them that all attempts will be made to support them.
Without immigration, our country would not be what it is today. As Mark Zuckerberg said we do have to keep this country safe, but I believe there are better ways of doing so rather than banning groups of people from entering this country or prioritizing Christians over those who are not. It makes the United States look bad and can have rippling effects on industries such as the tech industry.