Several major tech companies have come out against the recent executive order by President Donald Trump that bans travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Google, in particular, has created a $4 million USD crisis fund for those affected by Trump’s immigration ban. Google will match employee donations, up to a maximum of $2 million, to create the fund, reports USA Today.
All donations will go towards four organizations, which include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Immigrant Legal Resource Center, International Rescue Committee and UNHCR, the UN agency responsible for protecting refugees.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the fund in an internal memo to employees, in which he also condemned the Trump order by saying it was “painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues.”
The order temporarily prevents immigration from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Syrian and Sudan. Other tech companies such as Airbnb, Netflix and Facebook have either expressed concern or have come out against the policy in recent days.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose family fled the Soviet Union to avoid persecution, was seen protesting the executive order at the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday. Pichai is also a U.S. immigrant from India.
Other companies to announce donations include Lyft, which committed $1 million to the ACLU. Airbnb, meanwhile, pledged to provide free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the United States.
[source]The Verge[/source]
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