CEOs call the breakup of families at the border ‘inhumane’

By Jena McGregor / The Washington Post

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have spoken out about the Trump administration’s hard-line “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has resulted in a sharp rise in children separated from their parents at the southern U.S. border. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics has said it “amounts to child abuse.” Church leaders have called it “immoral,” with one reportedly suggesting “canonical penalties” for those involved. Former first ladies from both parties have called for it to end.

And now, Corporate America’s leaders are adding their voices to the growing chorus of critics denouncing the policy or calling for Congress to act. Speaking in Dublin on Tuesday morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Irish Times that “it’s heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what’s happening is inhumane, it needs to stop,” he said. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg encouraged donations to the Texas Civil Rights Project, saying “we need to stop this policy right now,” and made a donation of his own to another fundraiser.

Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, an immigrant himself who is known for hiring refugees, tweeted that “separating a child from a mother or father is not political. It is inhumane. It is against everything this country stands for. I have seen it in other parts of the world but never thought I’d see it in the land of the free.”

More tech CEOs, including Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi‏, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Google’s Sundar Pichai weighed in with tweets, and Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky called for “an immediate end to the policy.” Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein called it “tragic” while saying “it’s easy to say what you would do if you didn’t have to bear the consequences for what you decided.” Business Roundtable immigration committee chair Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems, said in a tweet that the practice was “cruel and contrary to American values.”

Dara khosrowshahi tweeted “As a father, a citizen and an immigrant myself, the stories coming from our border break my heart. Families are the backbone of society. A policy that pulls them apart rather than building them up is immoral and just plain wrong.”

Observers who study the recent wave of “CEO activism,” in which corporate leaders have spoken out on social issues such as gun control, gay rights or climate change, say Corporate America has been slower to respond to the current crisis than to past ones, but the “log jam” was broken on Tuesday.

“It’s no longer ‘where are they,’ it’s ‘what took them so long,’ ” said Michael Toffel, a Harvard Business School professor. “Now the risks seem lower. You have religious leaders [speaking out]. You have the first ladies on your side. How much more risk reduction can you expect?”

After President Donald Trump announced his travel ban involving several mostly Muslim countries, many CEOs, particularly in the tech industry, jumped into the debate, and added their voices in rapid succession to policy decisions over transgender members of the military or protecting the “Dreamers,” or immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. According to data tracked by the communications firm Weber Shandwick, 153 CEOs and companies spoke out about the travel ban early last year, and 62 companies made remarks supporting the “Dreamers” last fall.

But on the issue of the separation of children and parents at the border, Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick’s chief reputation strategist, said Tuesday morning that “I’m a bit surprised that so few companies have spoken up at this point. My immediate reaction was that all this just erupted to the surface, but it’s really been in the news for six weeks.”

She and others point to several possible reasons the issue didn’t take hold with companies as quickly, despite the attention it has received. One could be because the separation of children and families raises moral questions, and it’s harder for companies to issue the kind of lawyer-scrubbed statements about corporate values like diversity, equality or sustainability that many have used before.

“In this situation you’re either for it or against it,” Gaines-Ross said. “There’s no neutral position.”

Another reason may be that the Trump administration’s communication about the legal context — officials have denied that the separation of families is a policy and made false claims that Democrats are to blame for the administration’s separation of families — could make speaking up more complex for corporate leaders.

“It’s a less simple one-liner,” Toffel said. “You risk it being misinterpreted, by some who believe these misstatements, that you are advocating illegal activity. That raises the stakes.”

Also it is not as explicitly tied to their businesses as other issues have been. Drexel University professor Daniel Korschun said the main things that get companies to engage on political issues are whether they affect company performance or connect with stated corporate values. “Unless it hits one of those things,” he said, “they’re going to stay silent.”

Business contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have complicated the matter for some. Microsoft faced outrage from some on social media for saying it was “proud to support” ICE’s I.T. modernization in a January blog post. It followed up with a statement, which read in part: “In response to questions we want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of [cloud-based software] Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose.”

Microsoft also said “we urge the administration to change its policy and Congress to pass legislation ensuring children are no longer separated from their families.” Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith, who is also the chairman and co-founder of the KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) organization, wrote a Father’s Day LinkedIn post where he said “when we keep children with their parents, we not only follow in the footsteps of one of the world’s oldest and most important humanitarian traditions, we help build a stronger country.”

On Wednesday, the Seattle Times reported that Microsoft employees wrote a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, asking the company to cancel a contract it has with ICE. The Times said employees wrote they were “dismayed” to learn that Microsoft has a $19.4 million contract with ICE to provide cloud-computing services.

Those who follow CEO activism say they expect more companies to speak out. “What’s really changed in the past couple of days is it’s become clear that the administration is not planning on backing down, and I think many CEOs felt compelled to enter into the discussion,” Korschun said.

Those who were vocal about other immigration issues, such as the travel ban or DACA, may feel they have to speak up here, too.

“When a company makes a commitment to an issue, they have to remain consistent on it. They have to continue to be willing to address that issue, Korschun said. “You can’t pick and choose.”