Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has shared the memo -sent by Brad Smith to all the employees of the company- on LinkedIn. Nadella has also said that “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. We will continue to advocate on this important topic.”
The Executive Order on Immigration signed by the U.S. President applies an immediate 90-day moratorium on admissions and reentry into the United States of all individuals who are not already a citizen of the U.S. from the seven following countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan.
In addition to a complete ban on refugees entering the U.S. for 120 days and the ban mentioned above, the new border controls:
- prevent those with dual-citizenship shared with any of those countries (except those with dual U.S. citizenship) from entering the U.S. for 90 days;
- restrict existing U.S. green card holders from re-entering the country without first having their admission reviewed on a “case by case basis”; and
- require green card holders already in the U.S. to speak with a consular official before leaving the country.
Brad Smith has stated that Microsoft has already contacted 76 of its employees who are citizens of these seven countries and have a U.S. visa and are therefore affected by this new Order. The tech giant’s president has also said that “there may be other employees from these countries who have U.S. green cards rather than a visa who may be affected, and there may be family members from these countries that we haven’t yet reached.”
Smith urged those that haven’t already been reached by the company to “send an email right away to the CELA U.S. Immigration Team.” He has also informed everyone at Microsoft that if they’re uncertain about whether they’re affected, they can “use this same alias and let us know so we can work with you and answer your questions.”
Microsoft’s view on immigration laws
Satya Nadella has highlighted a piece of Brad Smith’s memo, outlining Microsoft’s view on the immigration system:
“As a company, Microsoft believes in a strong and balanced high-skilled immigration system. We also believe in broader immigration opportunities, like the protections for talented and law-abiding young people under the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, often called “Dreamers”. 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.”
Microsoft has a monthly Employee Q&A scheduled for today, during which both Nadella and Smith will address those topics further.
To read the complete memo sent to Microsoft employees by Brad Smith, check here.
