Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The company is worried that some of its US-based employees may be prevented from returning to the States.
Silicon Valley’s concern about President Donald Trump’s immigration policies has suddenly become real in a big way.
On Friday, Google reportedly told more than 100 employees traveling overseas to return to the US immediately to avoid getting shut out of the country by an executive order issued by Trump.
«It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,» Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an internal memo , according to Bloomberg.
Among other things, Trump’s order , which went into immediate effect Friday night, sets a 90-day ban on people from the predominantly Muslim countries of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US. The president says it’s meant to protect against terrorism.
Google’s response came several hours later.
The move marks what could be the beginning of a vocal resistance from Silicon Valley executives to Trump’s policies. Though former President Barack Obama and Trump’s Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, were both popular figures in the technology world, tech executives did appear willing to discuss issues with the White House after Trump’s win.
