Owing to his election promise, the 45th President of The United States of America recently signed an executive order wherein the foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries have been barred from entering the US for at least 90 days. The countries in discussion are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. However, this restriction isn’t only on the foreign nationals. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this ban also applies to the green card holders from those countries. This order brings to halt the nation’s Syrian refugee resettlement program and all the other refugee settlements for 120 days along with a blanket ban of 90 days on people from the seven Muslim-majority countries.

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Although Trump is trying to defend his stand by saying that it is a measure to “keep radical Islamic terrorists” out of America, this decision hasn’t really gone down too well with the people especially the Tech giants who rule the Silicon Valley. In response to Trump’s immigration order that will likely affect over 70 of its employees, Microsoft President Brad Smith sent an email to his company staff. In the mail, he wrote about providing the employees with legal advice and assistance, “Our goal as a company is to provide you with legal advice and assistance. We're aware of 76 Microsoft employees who are citizens of these countries and have a U.S. visa and are therefore affected by this new Order.” Smith further added, “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.” You can read the whole email here. 

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Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, who was born in India and moved to the US for higher education, furthered Smith’s point and wrote in preface to that e-mail, “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.” However, it isn’t just Smith or Nadella who hold such strong opinion; several tech giants too have come forward to voice their opinion. Indian-origin CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, too slammed Trump’s decision and wrote to his employees stating that more than 100 staff members are getting affected by this order. Pichai wrote in a memo, “It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues.” “We wouldn’t wish this fear and uncertainty on anyone-and especially not our fellow Googlers,” He further added while saying that in uncertain times, it’s their values that remain their best guide.

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What’s more, even Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg came forward to voice his opinion on the lines that America is a nation of immigrants and that it should be proud of it. He took to his own platform, Facebook and wrote “Like many of you, I’m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump.” Here’s what he wrote on Facebook. He also urged Trump to ‘keep the US borders open to refugees who need a safe haven’.  

Soon after, many others started coming forward with their own views, but none were supportive of Trump’s executive order. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook too joined this discussion and told the staff that their company wouldn’t exist without immigration and that they don’t support this policy. He wrote to his employees, “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.” He then quoted Dr. Martin Luther King and boy that quote impressed us all, “In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.”

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Even Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder and president of Alphabet joined in the discussion when he was seen with the protesters at San Francisco International Airport, who assembled there to oppose Trump’s immigration order.                   

Google cofounder Sergey Brin at SFO protest: "I'm here because I'm a refugee." (Photo from Matt Kang/Forbes) pic.twitter.com/GwhsSwDPLT

The way these tech leaders have lashed out at Trump’s decision, looks like it will take several lives for both Silicon Valley and the White House to strengthen ties and move over this growing rift. Looking at the bomb that Trump threw on the US and the citizens, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s currency demontisation looks like a ‘sutli bomb’ that had at least a 5-times milder impact on us. Though, both of them tried to mess with people’s lives.

Having said that, reportedly, a US federal judge has ruled out a part of Trump’s executive order, stating that authorities cannot deport citizens of the seven countries who had already arrived in the US with valid visas, or who were in transit.

Source: NDTV, CNN