A group of more than 300 business leaders and CEOs have sent an open letter to President Trump and congressional leaders urging them to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows the children of undocumented immigrants to work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
The president has hinted that he would suspend the program in the immediate future.
Among the chief executives in the technology industry to sign the letter are Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Best Buy’s Hubert Joly, Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, Electronic Arts’ Jacob Schatz, Google’s Sundar Pichai, H-P’s Meg Whitman, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Netgear’s Patrick Lo.
According to the text of the letter more than 97 percent of DACA recipients are in school or in the workforce, 5 percent started their own business, 65 percent have purchased a vehicle, and 16 percent have purchased their first home. At least 72 percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies count DACA recipients among their employees.
The letter also states that killing DACA would deduct $460.3 billion from the national GDP and would cost $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions.
This is not the first time business leaders have been at odds with the Trump administration’s immigration policies, as a number of the same leaders voiced opinion about Trump’s travel ban announced in February.
