Only last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella publicly addressed President Trump’s immigration orders, stating that “there is no place for bias and bigotry” in the U.S. Microsoft has now taken a step further in the context by making a formal request asking the cabinet officers to grant immediate exceptions for the law abiding citizens and lawful visa holders which are working for them or other companies and are suffering under the ban.
Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith mentions in the blog post that there must be some exception process to permit “Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs” to re-enter the U.S. without compromising with security issues.
Many travelers to the countries banned by Trumps administration have their families waiting for them in U.S. and may be in some dire needs, such as some non-trivial health issues or financial problem that requires them to travel back. The bans are preventing such people from meeting their children or parents.
Smith states that:
At Microsoft we have seen these needs first-hand through some of our 76 employees who are impacted by last week’s order and, together with their 41 dependents, have nonimmigrant visas to live in the United States. These needs almost certainly are not unique to our employees and their families.
He also mentioned the executive orders which give DHS and the Secretary of State the authority to issue visas and other immigration benefits on a “case-by-case basis, and when in the national interest.”
Seeking some advantage from this provision, Microsoft has requested for a special entry permission to all those who have a job in U.S. or a student visa — or someone related to the visa holder — and who has no criminal record, or is traveling for work or a family emergency for not more than two weeks.
The point of the requesting the same is that all these individuals are already investing a lot in the national interest, be it through work or education, and therefore, they must be given some leverage from the existing law.
Microsoft clarifies that even if all these allowances are made, it will still remain unsatisfied with with the immigration law, stating that it “will not end the border debate and deliberations regarding last week’s executive order.”
It is actually good to see that Microsoft is working for the relief of these immigrants, raising hopes for a long-term solution to their peril.
