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Google creates $4 million crisis fund following Trump’s immigration ban

Google creates $4 million crisis fund following Trump’s immigration ban

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It’s reportedly Google’s largest crisis campaign to date

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Protestors Rally At Chicago's O'Hare Airport Against Muslim Immigration Ban
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Google has created a $4 million crisis fund for those affected by President Donald Trump’s immigration ban, according to a report from USA Today. The $2 million fund can be matched by up to $2 million from employees, with all donations going toward four organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Immigrant Legal Resource Center, International Rescue Committee and UNHCR, the UN agency responsible for protecting refugees. According to USA Today, the humanitarian campaign is Google’s largest ever.

The fund was announced in a memo from CEO Sundar Pichai, and confirmed to USA Today by a Google spokesperson. Pichai criticized Trump’s ban in an internal memo over the weekend, saying that it is “painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues.” The executive order, which temporarily bars immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, affects at least 187 Google employees, according to Pichai’s memo.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin also joined protests against the executive order at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, though he told The Verge that he was doing so “in a personal capacity.” Brin’s family fled the Soviet Union in 1979 to avoid persecution; Pichai is also an immigrant from India.

“We'll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.”

Several tech executives have spoken out against Trump’s executive order — some more forcefully than others. Over the weekend, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that “Trumps actions... are so un-American it pains us all.” On the more mealy mouthed end of the spectrum, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said simply that he was “concerned” about the order.

Other companies have offered more concrete support. Lyft said it will donate $1 million over the next four years to the ACLU, while Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said in a tweet that the company will provide “free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US.”   

In a statement to USA Today, Google said: “We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US. We'll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.”


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