Google calling workers home

Fear for overseas staffers

Google ordered more than 100 staffers traveling overseas who may be affected by President Trump’s controversial immigration ban to return to the United States immediately.

The company on Saturday asked the staffers to reach out to Google security, travel and immigration teams for assistance, according to a source familiar with the situation, Bloomberg News reported. The source asked not to be identified.

Google declined to say whether any employees were detained or blocked from boarding flights. The employees in question normally work in the United States but were abroad on work or vacations.

The company blasted Trump’s executive order in a memo to employees.

“It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote. “We’ve always made our view on immigration issues known publicly and will continue to do so.”

One employee rushed back from a trip to New Zealand to make it into the United States before the order was signed, Pichai wrote in his memo.

“We’re upset about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US,” Pichai said in the e-mail, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The comments spotlighted a growing divide between the Trump administration and several large US technology companies, which include many immigrants in their ranks.

Other tech companies are likely in a similar situation. Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg said he was “concerned” by Trump’s moves to restrict immigration.