Alphabet’s venture capital division GV called for donations to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in response to President Trump’s controversial immigration ban. The firm that was previously known as Google Ventures recently redesigned its homepage which now displays quotes from top executives of tech companies like Udacity and Slack, all of which are criticizing President Trump’s decision to suspend immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries. Joshua Reeves, Chief Executive Officer at Gusto, said that the American cloud company is “appalled” by the way the current U.S. administration is handling immigration, while his colleagues at Slack and Udacity expressed similar sentiments.
GV already made a large donation to the ACLU but didn’t disclose the exact amount it donated. However, the Alphabet-owned firm did say that its donation to the New York City-based nonprofit is the most prominent investment it will make over the course of 2017. The company also encouraged other individuals and companies to follow suit, stating that the ACLU is a worthy donation recipient due to the fact that it “defends American values of liberty and equal opportunity.” A previous version of GV’s website that has since been removed hosted a similar quote from Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai who told the public to not allow fear endanger American values. GV’s public opposition to the Trump administration comes after numerous other U.S. companies already criticized the government’s new immigration policies.
Since President Trump signed the controversial immigration ban on Friday, the ACLU raised over $24 million in individual online donations. Following that success, the New York City-based nonprofit filed a lawsuit against the ban and managed to obtain a temporary injunction against it on Saturday, January 28. The Silicon Valley also united against President Trump’s immigration ban but has so far only opposed it by publicly criticizing the decision and offering financial help to affected immigrants and organizations defending their rights. Unlike the American tech giants, the ACLU adopted a more direct approach to opposing the ban and swiftly took the U.S. administration to court, which seemingly suits the industry that’s apparently content with financing the organization and letting it head the legal initiative against President Trump’s controversial executive order.