Narayan AmmachchiComputing giant Microsoft has urged President Donald Trump to allow immigrants to travel freely after official screening proves that they pose no threat to U.S. security, adding that it will oppose the blanket ban.
In a formal request made to the Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft’s President Brad Smith said the travel ban had already hindered the movement of students studying in universities across the country.
Trump’s executive order banning the entry of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries has now been suspended by a federal judge in Washington, but the White House has vowed to reinstate it.
Microsoft is also among 97 tech companies that filed a court motion Sunday night declaring that Trump’s executive order on immigration violates the constitution.
In his blog post, Smith asked the government to create a process where already screened immigrants with a “pressing need” could continue to travel freely.
The ban, according to Smith, has affected about 76 employees at Microsoft alone, with one worker, who was out of the country when the ban was imposed, still struggling to re-enter the U.S.
Another impacted employee, Smith wrote, is in the U.S. but has “a desperate need to visit a critically-ill parent abroad”.
He argued that many of the immigrants are handling ‘critical roles’ in the American organizations that employ them, adding that they have contributed greatly to the innovation and the successful operation of U.S. firms.
Currently, there is no travel ban, but it may be reinstated over the coming weeks or months, because an appeal court has agreed to hear the case, although it has refused to reinstate the ban with immediate effect.
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