Top executives of Facebook, Google, Amazon, and approximately 300 other businesses in the United States have urged President Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals federal program, commonly referred to as DACA. In a recently published letter addressed to the highest office in the U.S., the three tech giants and other companies pleaded with the President to continue protecting young adults who were illegally brought to the country, stating that these “Dreamers” are essential to the country’s economy and should not be deported.
The open letter to President Trump was officially sent by FWD.us, an immigration reform advocacy group backed by Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. Apart from the aforementioned trio, the letter was signed by top executives of the likes of Netflix, Lyft, Airbnb, and the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. While primarily penned by veterans from the tech industry, the letter also boasts some signees from other segments, including General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. In a related post published on his Facebook page on Thursday evening, Mr. Zuckerberg called for Congress to pass the Dream Act or a comparable solution which would protect young adults brought to the country from being deported. Facebook CEO said that children of parents who illegally immigrated to the U.S. don’t take living in the country for granted despite many of them being here for “as long as they can remember,” urging the competent authorities to protect them.
The DACA policy was established by the former Obama administration in mid-2012 and is expected to be repealed by President Trump later today, though initial reports suggest that the government will allow some Dreamers to temporarily stay in the country. The move is seen as an extension of President Trump’s stricter immigration policies which formed a large part of the political platform on which he was elected to lead the country in late 2016. Under the DACA program, young adults who were illegally brought to the U.S. are able to stay in the country by obtaining and renewing special work permits. President Trump’s reported decision to end the initiative would come shortly after he already clashed with the tech industry over a number of other policy issues including general immigration and high-skilled visa programs.