Microsoft asks for exceptions to Trump immigration ban

Microsoft is asking the Trump administration to set up a process to grant case-by-case exemptions to some people affected by the president’s travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim majority countries.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said Thursday that the tech giant had submitted a formal request to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly to use their authority under last week’s executive order to grant exceptions to certain foreign visa holders and their dependents.

“There currently are law-abiding visa holders who are parents that were outside the United States last Friday and therefore cannot re-enter the country,” Smith wrote in a blog post on Microsoft’s website. “These parents are stranded and separated from their children. Other individuals are confronting genuine family emergencies such as the need to visit a critically ill parent.

“At Microsoft we have seen these needs first-hand through some of our 76 employees who are impacted by last week’s order and, together with their 41 dependents, have nonimmigrant visas to live in the United States. These needs almost certainly are not unique to our employees and their families.”

Smith requested that Kelly and Tillerson look into granting exceptions to those holding student or worker visas who have not committed any crimes in the U.S.

The request clarifies that they are seeking exceptions only for those who are traveling because of business or family emergencies and notes that those traveling for business reasons aren’t transiting in any of the countries on the list.

Trump’s executive order banned nationals of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country for 90 days. The countries are Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. It also temporarily suspends refugee resettlement and indefinitely suspends Syrian refugee resettlement.

The order prompted a fierce backlash, with protests erupting last week at international airports across the country. The outcry was particularly intense in the tech community, with almost all of the major Silicon Valley leaders speaking out against the ban.

Microsoft announced this week that it was supporting a lawsuit filed by the Washington state attorney general seeking to overturn the ban, and would be willing to testify in court.

“At the outset, we recognize that this proposal will not and should not end the broader debate and deliberations regarding last week’s executive order,” Smith wrote. “Our company is one among many that has expressed its views, and we will continue to participate energetically and constructively in the public discussions that help define our democratic processes.”