Apple CEO Tim Cook has long been an advocate for human rights, and that support extends to immigration rights. Along with other corporate CEOs, Cook co-signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen expressing concern over the Trump administration’s current immigration policies.
Noting that changes to immigration policy are “causing considerable anxiety” for thousands of their employees, the letter’s signers also suggest that they threaten to “disrupt company operations.” The changes have served to create inconsistency and uncertainty, forcing employees to repeatedly renew temporary work visas and imposing “unnecessary costs and complications for American businesses.”
“In many cases,” the letter adds, “these employees studied here and received degrees from U.S. universities, often in critical STEM fields.”
The letter notes that there are four key areas in which employees are affected by Trump administration policy: inconsistent immigration decisions, uncertainty about required information, revoked status for spouses, and commencement of removal proceedings.
The letter’s signers stress that the inconsistency in such policies “are unfair and discourage talented and highly skilled individuals from pursuing career opportunities in the United States,” while also threatening the status of long-term employees who have “followed the rules” and “been authorized by the U.S. government multiple times to work in the United States.”
The entire letter can be read here.
