14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has decided to share his thoughts on the new United States border policy by making public an internal email he sent to the company earlier this week.
Nadella starts by emphasizing that he is an immigrant himself and separating families and children is nothing more than a “cruel and abusive” policy.
“America is a nation of immigrants, and we’re able to attract people from around the world to contribute to our economy, our communities and our companies,” Nadella said.
“We are also a beacon of hope for those who need it the most. This is what makes America stronger. We will always stand for immigration policies that preserve every person’s dignity and human rights. That means standing with every immigrant who works at Microsoft and standing for change in the inhumane treatment of children at the U.S. border today.”
Nadella: We’re not powering the border policy
More than 100 Microsoft employees signed a letter earlier this week requesting the company to stop working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The software giant is said to make some $19 million out of contracts with ICE and involving cloud services, and the company itself praised the collaboration in a blog post published in January this year.
But Satya Nadella explains that although Microsoft does have a contract with ICE, the company isn’t offering products that could help power this new border policy.
“I want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads,” he says.
You can read Satya Nadella’s full email, as long as the statement released by Microsoft President Brad Smith on the new immigration policy in the box after the jump.