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TECHNOLOGY Thursday 7 sepTember 2017

Tech firms slam Trump for ending immigrant protections

By TALI ARBEL Sachs spoke out against
AP Technology Writer undoing DACA, tweet-
NEW YORK (AP) — Tech- ing , “I wouldn’t deport
nology companies and a kid who was brought
executives of other in- here and only knows
dustries criticized the America. Congress must
Trump administration address.”
for its plan to undo pro- Ford, in a statement, also
tections for hundreds of pushed for legislation to
thousands of young im- protect the young immi-
migrants and called on grants. JPMorgan Chase
Congress to help them. CEO Jamie Dimon said
President Donald Trump the U.S. should support
said he will dismantle immigrants who come
the Deferred Action to “learn” and “work
for Childhood Arriv- hard.”
als program, or DACA, A letter from the tech-
an Obama-era initia- nology-industry lobbying
tive that allowed young group FWD.us last week
people who were asked the president to
brought into the U.S. ille- keep DACA and for
gally as children to work In this July 11, 2017, file photo, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith speaks in Congress to replace it
legally in the U.S., shield- Washington. with permanent legisla-
ing them from depor- Associated Press tion. Names attached
tation. Winding down to the letter included
the program could put with attorneys, amicus Dreamers in our country” said in a statement that the heads of Amazon,
the immigrants at risk of briefs and, when appro- and that the company he was “disappointed, Apple, AT&T, Best Buy,
being sent back to the priate, direct legal in- will support employees in to say the least,” in the Facebook, General Mo-
countries of their birth. tervention. “If Dreamers need. administration’s actions tors, Google, HP, Micro-
The administration says who are our employees Uber’s chief technology Tuesday and that Con- soft, Netflix, Starbucks,
Congress has six months are in court, we will be by officer, Thuan Pham, gress must “fix this mess.” Twitter, Visa, Wells Fargo
to come up with a fix. their side,” Smith wrote. who came to the U.S. Spanish-language and Warren Buffett.
Tech companies have He said there are 39 af- as a refugee from Viet- broadcaster Telemun- The U.S. Chamber of
pushed back against fected employees that nam, wrote in an online do, owned by Com- Commerce, a business
efforts to curb immigra- the company knows of. post that the ride-hailing cast’s NBCUniversal, also group, said undoing
tion, which they see as Facebook CEO Mark company will “stand by urged Congress to act the protections and de-
vital to their industry. Im- Zuckerberg called the immigrants who want and said the young im- porting the young immi-
migrants make up about decision “a sad day for nothing more than to migrants “are integral grants was “contrary to
one-quarter of the U.S. our country” in a post contribute to our country to the economy, culture fundamental American
technology and science , adding that it is “par- and pursue the Ameri- and spirit of our nation.” principles and the best
workforce, and many in ticularly cruel to offer can Dream.” Disney CEO Bob Iger interests of our country”
Silicon Valley feel a per- young people the Amer- Google CEO Sundar tweeted that “Congress and said the administra-
sonal connection to the ican Dream, encourage Pichai tweeted that must act fast to protect” tion and Congress must
issue. them to come out of the “Dreamers are our neigh- the young immigrants. find a legislative solution
On Tuesday, Microsoft’s shadows and trust our bors, our friends and our The CEO of Goldman quickly.q
president, Brad Smith, government, and then co-workers. This is their
said in a blog post that punish them for it.” home. Congress needs
Congress should “move Apple CEO Tim Cook to act now to #Defend-
quickly with new legis- said in a note to employ- DACA. #WithDreamers.”
lation to protect these ees that he was “deeply IBM posted a series of
800,000 Dreamers,” us- dismayed that 800,000 tweets supporting legis-
ing a popular term for Americans — including lation to let the young im-
the young immigrants. more than 250 of our migrants stay in the U.S.
Notably, Smith explicitly Apple coworkers — may and said that “we stand
urged that immigration soon find themselves by our IBM #Dreamers.”
legislation take prece- cast out of the only Other industries also
dence over tax reform, country they’ve ever slammed President
another big legislative called home.” He said Trump’s actions Tues-
priority for corporate Apple will work with Con- day. Randy Falco, CEO
America. gress on legislation “that of the company that
Microsoft will also help provides permanent owns Spanish-language
affected employees protections for all the broadcaster Univision,