Criticism of the Trump administration’s call to rescind the DACA program has been swift across the nation and the rebukes include swift condemnation from two of the globe’s biggest tech behemoths.
Apple and Microsoft both vowed to defend the “Dreamers” impacted by this White House plan. Recode reports that Apple CEO expressed that he was “deeply dismayed” by Trump’s DACA decision in a memo to employees.
“On behalf of the hundreds of employees at Apple whose futures are at stake; on behalf of their colleagues and on behalf of the millions more across America who believe, as we do, in the power of dreams, we issue an urgent plea for our leaders in Washington to protect the Dreamers so their futures can never be put at risk in this way again,” wrote Cook in the note.
Cook also addressed the issue on Twitter.
250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them. They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 3, 2017
Microsoft released a statement commenting on the decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Within it, Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith declared the company will do what it can to defend Defenders, including the 39 Dreamers employed by Microsoft.
“We are deeply disappointed by the administration’s decision today to rescind protection under the program for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). As we said last week, we believe this is a big step back for our entire country,” wrote Smith. “As this debate moves forward, we need to remember that these 800,000 individuals came to our nation as children. They grew up in this country. They attended our local schools and count millions of American citizens as friends. They obey our laws, pay taxes here and have registered voluntarily with the federal government for DACA relief. They are loyal to this country and contribute their time and money to local churches, schools and community groups. The Dreamers are part of our nation’s fabric. They belong here.”
Having Apple and Microsoft speak out against a death blow to DACA could be enough for other companies of similar size to consider their own rebukes. Whether or not this creeps into how Congress approaches the issue is still to be determined.
(Via Recode)