How Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Other Tech Leaders Responded to Trump Rescinding DACA

Today, the Trump administration announced the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program known as DACA that allowed people brought into the United States as minors without documentation to avoid deportation and live, study, and work in the country legally for a period of time. Even before Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the official announcement today (Sept. 5), murmurs of the end of DACA prompted some states, including New York and Washington, to vow to sue Trump if he in fact rescinded the program. And hundreds of business leaders had signed a letter urging Trump not to rescind DACA, including the CEOs of Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and AT&T, Fortune reports.

Since the news of DACA being rescinded broke, tech company leaders have spoken out. As The Verge reports, Microsoft President and chief legal officer Brad Smith said in a statement:

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. … For the 39 Dreamers that we know of who are our employees, our commitment is clear. If Congress fails to act, our company will exercise its legal rights properly to help protect our employees. If the government seeks to deport any one of them, we will provide and pay for their legal counsel. We will also file an amicus brief and explore whether we can directly intervene in any such case. In short, if Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side.

And in an email obtained by Teen Vogue, Apple CEO sent the following message to Apple employees on Tuesday:

America promises all its people the opportunity to achieve their dreams through hard work and perseverance. At Apple, we've dedicated ourselves to creating products that empower those dreams. And at our best, we aspire to be part of the promise that defines America.

Earlier today, the Justice Department announced that President Trump will cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months if Congress does not act to make the program permanent.

I am deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans — including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers — may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they’ve ever called home.

DACA recognizes that people who arrived in the United States as children should not be punished for being here illegally. It lets these Americans, who have successfully completed rigorous background investigations, go to school, earn a living, support their families, pay taxes and work toward achieving their dreams like the rest of us. They are called Dreamers, and regardless of where they were born, they deserve our respect as equals.

I've received several notes over the weekend from Dreamers within Apple. Some told me they came to the U.S. as young as two years old, while others recounted they don't even remember a time they were not in this country.

Dreamers who work at Apple may have been born in Canada or Mexico, Kenya or Mongolia, but America is the only home they’ve ever known. They grew up in our cities and towns, and hold degrees from colleges across the country. They now work for Apple in 28 states.

They help customers in our retail stores. They engineer the products people love and they’re building Apple’s future as part of our R&D teams. They contribute to our company, our economy and our communities just as much as you and I do. Their dreams are our dreams.

I want to assure you that Apple will work with members of Congress from both parties to advocate for a legislative solution that provides permanent protections for all the Dreamers in our country.

We are also working closely with each of our co-workers to provide them and their families the support they need, including the advice of immigration experts.

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.

Despite this setback for our nation, I’m confident that American values will prevail and we will continue our tradition of welcoming immigrants from all nations. I’ll do whatever I can to assure this outcome.

Tim

He also posted the following message to Twitter:

Uber’s chief technology officer Thuan Pham also released a statement, saying:

When I was 10 years old, I left Vietnam with my mother and younger brother, crammed with 470 other people without life jackets onto an old fishing boat to Malaysia. It was a perilous and terrifying four-day journey—with major storms threatening to sink us, and pirates with guns and knives who robbed us and could kill us as well. We were the lucky ones who survived the 50% odds of that sea crossing. When we arrived in Malaysia, we were rejected as refugees and had to turn around and take another several days to reach Indonesia with our boat. When we reached the US as refugees, we had to start our lives over with empty hands, but it was the hope and promise of the American Dream that kept us going.

Immigrants often risk their lives for a chance at freedom and opportunity, and our country remains the world’s beacon of freedom and opportunity. Immigrants have built and contributed to America since its very beginning, and are at the center of our social fabric and economic prosperity. My heart breaks to see so many people who are in the same situation today that I was in many years ago.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also posted a message to Facebook about the decision:

According to Todd Schultz, the president of FWD.us, a “pro-immigration reform group” that Mark Zuckerberg cofounded, according to CNBC, “at least 75 percent of the largest companies in America have someone who identities as a DACA employee, which means it's much higher.” He also added that “it's fair to say almost every major company in America is benefiting from DACA because they've been able to hire someone who's a DACA recipient.”

Related: Lauren Jauregui Posts Message to Donald Trump Regarding DACA on Social Media

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