By Yoree Koh 

Microsoft Corp. executives joined other tech leaders in denouncing the U.S. handling of migrant families but stopped short of heeding calls from some employees to end work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the agency's role in separating children from their parents.

Chief Executive Satya Nadella described the Trump administration's border policy as "simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change," in a letter to employees that he posted online Tuesday.

His comments were part of a wider tech industry protest against the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy of detaining adult immigrants at the border with Mexico, leading to the forced separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents in less than two months.

Other prominent tech CEOs speaking out about the border policy included Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc.'s Google division, who tweeted "the stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching." Uber Technologies Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted the policy is "just plain wrong," and that speaking as a father and immigrant, the stories "break my heart."

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, in an interview with the Irish Times, described the separations as "inhumane," while Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said in a series of tweets that if there was any way to help the children at the border, he would.

The comments reflect the tech industry's volatile relationship with the Trump administration.

Tech companies have agreed with the White House in some areas, such as corporate-tax overhaul, but executives and employees have been unusually vocal critics in others -- particularly immigration policy, which is especially sensitive in an industry where many employees and leaders were born overseas.

In early 2017, employees and executives industrywide railed against the U.S. temporary travel ban placed on foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Mr. Nadella's remarks Tuesday came after more than a hundred employees signed an open letter posted on an internal message board earlier in the day demanding the company no longer provide technology to ICE in a contract that the employees in the letter said is valued at $19.4 million.

"As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit," employees said in the letter, which was posted online by the New York Times. "We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognize the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm."

In responding to employees, Mr. Nadella spoke about being an immigrant and how his dream wouldn't have been possible elsewhere.

Mr. Nadella said Microsoft has no plans to end its ties with ICE, and that its work isn't related to the controversial new 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."

Microsoft President Brad Smith penned an extensive blog post detailing the company's stance on specific immigration policies. Neither said the company would cease its work with ICE.

Microsoft's work with the agency gained social-media attention in light of a blog post the company published in January touting its ties with ICE. In the post, Microsoft said the department "is currently implementing transformative technologies for homeland security and public safety, and we're proud to support this work with our mission-critical cloud."

Mr. Nadella's letter Tuesday struck a different tone. He wrote: "Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads."

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 20, 2018 11:36 ET (15:36 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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