Microsoft Corporation Securing Exemption On Immigration Ban For Employees Affected; Tech Companies Doing The Same

Microsoft Corporation is taking the necessary depreciation on the Executive Order on immigration ban signed by President Donald Trump on January 28. Other major Tech companies are also doing actions with the situation.

Secretary Rex Tillerson and Secretary John Kelly received the "Request to Create a Process to Grant Exceptions to the Suspension of Entry of Foreign Nationals from Specified Countries for "Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs" Sponsored by U.S. Companies" from Microsoft Corporation President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith on February 2 requesting to alleviate the strain on employees affected by the Executive Order.

Mr. Smith wrote in a five-page letter, "We are concerned about families that have been separated as one or both parents were outside the United States last Friday and therefore cannot re-enter the country and are stranded away from their homes." He further added, "We are also concerned about an impacted employee inside the United States with a desperate need to visit a critically ill parent abroad."

Both White House Executives are empowered that they have the power to give exemptions on a case-to-case basis with this Presidential decree. Mr. Smith believes that with the special clause provided, Microsoft is talking with the right people to help the companies affected by this.

Microsoft is not alone in this pursuit to support their people and their companies. Both Apple Incorporation and Alphabet Incorporation are planning to send a joint letter along with Microsoft in the future, as published in the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Smith also believes that their people and other companies are law-abiding people who in many ways have been traveling in and out the country with a clean record. These people do not pose a threat of terrorism, but the Executive Order is forcing them to confront without legal basis.

On a related news, Microsoft and other Tech companies, namely Expedia and Amazon are joining Washington State in pursuing a case proving that the Executive Order on Immigration ban is unconstitutional. Bob Ferguson, Washington Attorney General filed the case on February 2. In his argument, it says that the Executive Order is not hurting big companies, but it is harming both Washington State economy and the people with families coming from seven nations included.

The White House stood firm that the Executive Order on Immigration ban is protecting the nation from threats of terror. Microsoft sees it the other way around.