DACA: Microsoft will exercise its legal rights to protect its Dreamer employees if Congress fails to act

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced that US President Donald Trump’s administration will “wind down” Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the US illegally as children. President tweeted the below to support this move.

Make no mistake, we are going to put the interest of AMERICAN CITIZENS FIRST!

The forgotten men & women will no longer be forgotten.

— The Trump Train (@The_Trump_Train) September 5, 2017

Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer at Microsoft today expressed his views on this matter. He made it clear that Microsoft is disappointed by the administration’s decision. Microsoft has now urged the congress to reprioritize the fall legislative calendar and move quickly with new legislation to protect these 800,000 Dreamers. He even mentioned that Congress
should adopt legislation on DACA before it tries to adopt a tax reform bill.

As this debate moves forward, we need to remember that these 800,000 individuals came to our nation as children. They grew up in this country. They attended our local schools and count millions of American citizens as friends. They obey our laws, pay taxes here and have registered voluntarily with the federal government for DACA relief. They are loyal to this country and contribute their time and money to local churches, schools and community groups. The Dreamers are part of our nation’s fabric. They belong here.

Microsoft has 39 Dreamers as its employees. If Congress does nothing in 6 months, Microsoft clearly mentioned that they will exercise their legal rights to help protect their 39 employees. If the government seeks to deport any one of them, Microsoft will provide and pay for their legal counsel. Microsoft will also file an amicus brief and explore whether they can directly intervene in any such case.

You can read Brad Smith’s full blog post regarding this issue here. Last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed his thoughts on this issue, read it here.