From the CEO of Air bnb to children, many are voicing their concern and offering support for those affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days and suspends the admission of all refugees for 120 days.
The order was announced late Friday afternoon and resulted in refugees, visa holders and green card holders throughout the major airports in cities such as New York, Washington DC, Seattle, Denver and Chicago being detained.
Protests followed and by the end of Saturday evening, non-profit ACLU announced: “We immediately got a hearing and argued our case. At around 9 p.m., Federal District Court Judge Ann M. Donnelly issued a stay, blocking President Trump’s discriminatory policy from taking effect and preventing refugees and immigrants from being deported.”
But as the ACLU stated, “Savor this victory tonight, but prepare to fight on,” people are still trying to do everything in their power to help those who need it.
Brian Cheskey, CEO and cofounder of Air Bnb who is offering a place for those refugees who need it, according to his social media pages.
Others are offering to help the ACLU continue their fight through donations.
The CEO of bigcartel.com is also offering to match donations up to $10k to the ACLU.
Well this is a bandwagon I’ll hop on…
I’m the son of an immigrant and will match all donations to the @ACLU up to $10k.
Tweet me receipts!
— Matt Wigham (@mattwigham) January 29, 2017
Cory Anotado, Founder, BuzzerBlog and #PacdudeGames is also offering his support.
For the next 6 hours, for every retweet this tweet gets, I will donate 50¢ to the @ACLU.
— Cory Anotado (@pacdude) January 29, 2017
Singer Sia and Rosie O Donnel are also offering to match ACLU donations up to $100,000.
help our queer & immigrant friends. send me your donation receipts for the @aclu & I will match up to $100K https://t.co/P9zVRH0WH0 #RESIST
— sia (@Sia) January 28, 2017
and i will match your 100K donation sia – #resist https://t.co/xkjVGeMWuR
— ROSIE (@Rosie) January 29, 2017
Tech companies and their CEOs are also rallying to take a stand:
LinkedIn Ceo Jeff Weiner:
40% of Fortune 500 founded by immigrants or their children. All ethnicities should have access to opportunity — founding principle of U.S.
— Jeff Weiner (@jeffweiner) January 28, 2017
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google also shared his thoughts on twitter:
For generations, this country has been home to immigrants like Sanaz. Her story is playing out all over the country. Google is with you. https://t.co/mllnZ5gNDB
— sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) January 29, 2017
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder of Google attended the protest in SFO as a personal decision.
Others include Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Apple and Netflix. Below are their statements:
This afternoon I sent the email below to Uber employees and thought I would include here:Subject: Standing up for what…
Posted by Travis Kalanick on Saturday, January 28, 2017
Travis Kalanick offered to identify those drivers that are out of the country and may be able to return. Th company plans to “compensate them pro bono during the next three months to help mitigate some of the financial stress and complications with supporting their families and putting food on the table. We will have more details on this in the coming days,” he wrote.
Netflix‘s CEO:
“Trump’s actions are hurting Netflix employees around the world, and are so un-American it pains us all. Worse, these actions will make America less safe (through hatred and loss of allies) rather than more safe,” said Reed Hastings. “A very sad week, and more to come with the lives of over 600,000 Dreamers here in a America under imminent threat. It is time to link arms together to protect American values of freedom and opportunity.”
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also offered a statement against the new Trump immigration policy.<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>While we fight against Trump's hateful agenda, we must push forward a progressive vision demanding our government represents all of us.</p>— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) <a href=”https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/825420428537643008″>January 28, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
“The Executive Order’s humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting,” wrote Dorsey, linking to a statement from the Internet Association on Twitter. “We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the U.S.”
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg shared his concerns:
“We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today,” he explained.
Apple CEO Tim Cooke also sent an internal memo to employees worldwide: ” Apple is open. Open to everyone, no matter where they come from, which language they speak, who they love or how they worship.”
“Our employees represent the finest talent in the world, and our team hails from every corner of the globe,” he explained.”In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.”
Several political leaders also voiced their views.
Hillary Clinton:
I stand with the people gathered across the country tonight defending our values & our Constitution. This is not who we are.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 29, 2017
Bernie Sanders:
While we fight against Trump’s hateful agenda, we must push forward a progressive vision demanding our government represents all of us.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 28, 2017
This country has never been about one person or one president. It’s about the millions of people who speak up and fight for justice.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 29, 2017
And in case none of this works out, Justin Troudeau has a plan:
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017
