Microsoft Corp. is asking U.S. officials to grant exceptions for law-abiding, visa-holding workers and students from President Donald Trump’s immigration order, channeling the outrage expressed by many in the technology industry with a proposed solution.
The U.S. technology industry responded immediately and with outrage to last Friday’s action from the new president, which set a 90-day ban on citizens from
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen as well as a 120-halt on all refugees.
Separately, Microsoft is also among a group of companies including Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., circulating an open letter to Trump expressing concern about the order and offering help to fix it and other policies, according to people familiar with the plan.
Other businesses involved include firms in finance, manufacturing, energy and consumer goods. It’s not clear yet which companies will agree to sign on. The goal is to publish the open letter this week, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Changes are still being made to the document, and it’s possible it may not be released.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-02/microsoft-seeks-trump-order-exemption-for-workers-with-visas
