Tesla and Apple CEOs denounce Trump administration’s actions at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Microsoft, which once bragged about its work with ICE, is now trying to distance itself from the current policy
As the Trump administration implements zerotolerance enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border by detaining thousands of undocumented immigrants separately from their children, many technology executives are decrying the policy and offering help to the families.
“I hope the kids are ok,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted this week, referring to the children being separated from their parents at the border.
The Trump administration is now detaining almost 12,000 children in 17 states, it said Tuesday. At least 2,000 of those kids have been separated from their parents.
Musk’s and other executives’ expressions of frustration and horror over the children’s plight come as some in the tech industry are being accused of being complicit. Microsoft, which in January announced it was “proud” of its work with ICE, is now distancing itself from what’s going on.
“In response to questions we want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose,” the software giant said in a blog post.
Meanwhile, Musk’s tweet Monday accompanied a YouTube link he shared — to “Shelter,” a song by English indie band The xx. As usual, his tweets drew plenty of replies and questions, and the Tesla CEO responded by giving a glimpse into his frustration about what’s going on.
When asked to make “a more powerful statement,” Musk responded: “I couldn’t even keep the US in the Paris Accord, but if there is some way for me to help these kids I will do so.”
Last May, Musk quit two White House advisory panels because of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Musk, a clean-energy evangelist, had said he wanted a seat at the table to try to influence decisions by Trump, who has expressed doubt that climate change is real.
Now, the Trump administration is defending its actions at the border as legally and biblically justifiable.
Musk also tweeted Monday in response to the immigration crisis that he is one of the “top donors to the ACLU,” which the civilliberties group confirmed Tuesday, and expressed curiosity about planned marches at the border.
The ACLU said Musk is one of its top 5 donors nationwide.
A Tesla spokeswoman said Tuesday the company would have no additional comment on Musk’s tweets.
Likewise, a Microsoft spokeswoman said Tuesday the company would have no further comment on its involvement with ICE.
Microsoft is the latest big tech company to publicly defend its ties with the federal government. In May, thousands of Google employees protested — and some reportedly quit— over Google’s work with the Pentagon and concerns that the company’s artificial intelligence could be used to improve drone strikes. Google said it will not renew the Project Maven contract
when it expires next year, and CEO Sundar Pichai released principles declaring the company’s AI technology would not be knowingly used for harm.
Tech Workers Coalition — made up of tech workers, community activists and labor activists in the Bay Area and in Seattle, near Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters — has urged Microsoft workers to raise their voices.
“If you are a worker building these tools or others at Microsoft, decide now that you will not be complicit,” the coalition tweeted over the weekend. “Then, talk to a trusted coworker. Begin building power. If you don’t feel like you know how to begin those conversations, our DMs are open.”
The Tech Workers Coalition also pointed out that San Francisco-based Salesforce in March announced a cloud contract with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Salesforce has not returned a request for comment.
Other well-known tech executives have either taken action or weighed in on this latest issue, just as many of them did with other immigration-related actions, such as when the Trump administration
rolled out a travel ban that affects mostly Muslim countries, and during the debate over DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals):
• Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is in Ireland, on Tuesday reportedly called the separation “inhumane” and “heartbreaking,” and said he would try to be a “constructive voice” and talk with the U.S. government about it. Cook, who has criticized the Trump administration over many of its policies, seems to have the president’s ear anyway because he is the leader of the world’s most valuable company. Amid a U.S.China trade war, the New York Times reports that the Trump administration has told Cook it will not impose tariffs on iPhones, which are made in China.
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg have each donated to a Facebook fundraiser for a Texas nonprofit that offers free and low-cost legal services to immigrants. Zuckerberg said Tuesday in a Facebook post, “We need to stop this policy right now.”
• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to ask for ideas about the “highest impact ways to help,” saying, “Do everything it takes to #KeepFamiliesTogether.”
• Airbnb co-founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk released a statement that includes: “Ripping children from the arms of their parents is heartless, cruel, immoral and counter to the American values of belonging.”
• Box CEO Aaron Levie tweeted: “The act of separating families at the border is inhumane and un-American. We cannot let this continue. We need our government to address immigration in a compassionate and scalable way *now*.”
• Angel investor Ron Conway tweeted his thanks to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, for her bill, the Keep Families Together Act. “Every single Senator from BOTH PARTIES must support this bill now! #Republicans who fail to stop the #disgraceful separation of children from their parents will be #shamed by #history,” Conway said.
• Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian tweeted a link to what he called the government’s “propaganda” video, which showed a detention facility in McAllen, Texas. He called it “reprehensible.”