Microsoft asks for exceptions to President Trump's travel ban for “Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs”

On the Microsoft Blog Microsoft’s chief legal counsel Brad Smith announced that they will be making a formal request asking US cabinet officers to create a process to grant exceptions that will permit “Responsible Known Travellers with Pressing Needs” to re-enter the country if they have been adequately vetted. He notes that President Trump’s executive order expressly gave the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security the authority to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis, consistent with the national interest, to issue visas and other immigration benefits.

They note that currently law-abiding visa holders have been blocked from re-entering the country, and these parents are stranded and separated from their children. Others individuals are confronting genuine family emergencies such as the need to visit a critically ill parent.

Microsoft did not want this move to be construed as approval of President Trump’s temporary travel ban, but believed that limited but important steps needed to be taken to help all such individuals,  and that the Secretary of State had the power to help, consistent with national security and the authority that the President expressly gave to them.

Smith noted that the people affected by the ban are already known quantities to the government with no criminal history and that those affected are doctors, scientists, engineers, medical technicians, software developers, or any number of other highly skilled professionals that are deeply valued contributors to the innovation, research and business acumen, and who serve critical roles in the successful operations of U.S. companies.

Read all the detail of Microsoft’s proposal on their site here.