Dozens of tech industry leaders have signed a letter expressing concern about reports that President Donald Trump is considering ending a program that protected from deportation more than 750,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
The letter, released Thursday by tech industry advocacy group FWD.us, was signed by such executives as Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Snap's Evan Spiegel.
Executives from companies such as Lyft, Airbnb, Dropbox, Microsoft and General Motors also signed.
The letter calls on Trump to continue the Obama-era federal program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and asks Congress to pass legislation that would allow the young people affected to remain in the U.S. permanently.
It says they "are vital to the future of our companies and our economy. With them, we grow and create jobs. They are part of why we will continue to have a global competitive advantage."
In a separate blog post, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the software company was "deeply concerned" about reports of changes to DACA. Of Microsoft's more than 73,000 employees in the United States, 27 are DACA beneficiaries.
During his campaign, Trump said he would end the program. But after taking office, he has indicated he is sympathetic to the plight of young immigrants who did not enter the country under their own volition.
