US companies under pressure of President Trump's immigration ban

Starbucks, operating more than 25,000 coffee shops in 75 countries, announced on Sunday, 29th January 2017 its pledge to employ 10,000 refugees within five years.

The pledge is a response to the immigration executive order signed by the new US President Donald Trump which banned refugees from entering the United States.

Specifically, Trump's order stopped the entry of refugees for 120 days and completely banned refugees from Syria from entering the US. Refugees from other seven predominantly Muslim countries are not allowed to enter the US for 90 days.

How are other major US companies responding?

Photo: Starbucks Newsroom

Starbucks successfully faces a boycott

In his open letter to employees, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz literally says that Trump's order caused "confusion, surprise and opposition."

The recruitment of refugees for Starbucks will start in the US and focus primarily on individuals who cooperated with the US military. According to Schultz, the company wants to "welcome and seek out opportunities for those fleeing war, violence, persecution and discrimination".

Immediately after the announcement of its refugee recruitment plan, Starbucks became the target of disapproving attacks on social networks, especially on Twitter under the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks.

It was not the first attack of this kind, since Howard Schultz is known to speak openly, even about delicate subjects. Neither this nor the previous calls for a boycott has caused economic damage to the coffee chain.

At the same time, Starbucks is in the process of recruiting the 10,000 military veterans and spouses of active US soldiers the company pledged to adopt in 2013 (until the year 2018).

Disagreement from Silicon Valley

With the exception of Silicon Valley representatives, CEOs of other large US companies have not expressed their opinion on Trump's order yet.

Google CEO Sunar Pichai said in a statement to the media that he considered it painful how the immigration ban personally affected his colleagues. More than 100 Google employees currently working abroad were affected by the ban. The company intends to help them get back.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a statement to employees in which he stated that the company did not support President Trump's immigration policy. He highlighted the fact that the company would never have been founded without immigrants, since Steve Jobs was born to immigrants from Syria. Apple has even started taking legal steps to assist its employees affected by the immigration ban.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reacted in the same spirit in his private message published on Facebook. He stressed that he and his wife, and basically the entire nation are descendants from immigrants.

An open attitude towards migration was further supported by Microsoft, IBM, Tesla Motors, Netflix, Uber or Airbnb.

Tactical silence?

No large US company has declared open support for President Trump's immigration order. Some of them, however, seem to agree silently.

Fortune magazine states that the representatives of manufacturing companies Boeing, Ford Motor and General Motors, which previously had disputes with Donald Trump in other cases, don't want to comment the immigration ban.

The banking sector, which is very close to President Trump, such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, remains equally silent. Silence can also be heard from the energy sector (Exxon Mobil).

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