Microsoft Employees Ask Company to End Border Patrol Contract

An open letter signed by more than 100 Microsoft employees requested the tech giant to stop cooperation with the US border patrol. They objected to the company’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

After the controversy over the separation of immigrant parents and their children on the border with Mexico, the company was under pressure.

The Trump administration is facing fierce criticism of the separation of children and families from the Mexican border. The letter was posted on the internal message board issued by the New York Times and stated that employees “rejected complicity.” Microsoft stated that its technology has not been used for “projects related to separating children from their families at the border”.

“Microsoft is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border. Family unification has been a fundamental tenet of American policy and law since the end of World War II”, the company said, In a statement which was one the surface of the employee letter.

Still, the company did have contracts with US immigration, customs and law enforcement agencies (known as ICE) for 19.4 million U.S. dollars (14.7 million pounds).

The letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella required the company to end this connection with ICE, as well as “other customers who have direct access to ICE.”