Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday denounced United States President Donald Trump's executive orders, which will severely restrict entry for immigrants and refugees from Muslim-majority countries.
Also read: Trump signs orders on 'extreme vetting,' bars refugee entry from 7 Muslim countries
"Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump. We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat ... We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That's who we are," Zuckerberg said. The Facebook CEO has now become the most high-profile tech industry leader to speak out against the US president ever since the 2016 elections.
Zuckerburg, however, also urged Trump to stand true to his earlier presidential campaign vows regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) and H1-B visas. H1-B visas are in particular of great interest to the tech industry as the said visas assist in hiring talent from other countries into US.
"I was glad to hear President Trump say he's going to 'work something out' for Dreamers – immigrants who were brought to this country at a young age by their parents. I'm also glad the President believes our country should continue to benefit from 'people of great talent coming into the country," Zuckerberg wrote.
During Trump's presidential campaign, tech leaders from Silicon Valley opposed his candidacy, citing the Republican billionaire's xenophobia, protectionism, poor judgement and ignorance about how technology works. However, some of those very leaders now seem to be rushing to fall in line with Trump's administration now that he is the US President. However, Zuckerberg has stood his ground when it comes to his take on some of Trump's standings.
The Facebook CEO during a press conference in April 2016 had said, "I hear fearful voices talking about building walls ... It takes courage to chose hope over fear."
Zuckerberg in his post also wrote about his own ancestors who immigrated from Germany, Austria and Poland and his wife's parents, who were refugees from China and Vietnam. "We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here," he wrote.
Top executives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel and other companies travelled to Trump Tower in December to meet Trump. Tesla's Elon Musk and Uber's Travis Kalanick joined Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum to advise him on his economic agenda. Google co-hosted a party for Republican lawmakers with the right-wing Independent Journal Review, according to the New York Times, while Facebook hosted an inauguration party with the right-wing Daily Caller.
Trump on Friday signed executive orders to suspend refugee arrivals from at least seven Muslim countries and to impose stricter new controls on travellers from these nations. Trump, during his presidential campaign, had declared that he would weed out "radical Islamic terrorists" from America, and after signing the order he said that he was making the nation safe from the "terrorists."
The order reportedly states that no visas are to be issued for at least 30 days to migrants or travellers from seven Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
