Microsoft urges Trump to keep DACA

Microsoft is urging President Trump not to end a program that protects hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children from deportation.

“We are deeply concerned by news reports about changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that are under consideration,” Microsoft’s Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith wrote in a blog post on Thursday. 

“These changes would not only negatively impact thousands of hardworking people across the United States, but will be a step backwards for our entire nation.”

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Smith noted that at least 27 of Microsoft’s employees could be affected if Trump ends DACA.

“Ending DACA will drastically disrupt the lives of these individuals who willingly came forward to register with the federal government,” Smith wrote. “They could lose their jobs and risk deportation.”

Microsoft is the first major tech company to urge Trump to retain the program.

The statement follows a report from Fox News that the administration could end DACA as soon as Friday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday disputed the report, saying no final decision has been made.

But the administration faces a Sept. 5 deadline, with Texas and nine other states threatening to challenge the program in court if Trump does not end it.

DACA, established by executive action in 2012 by President Barack Obama, allows almost 800,000 individuals who entered the country illegally as minors to stay in the U.S. and obtain work permits.

During the campaign, Trump pledged to abolish the program, but in office has softened his tone, telling those under the program in April they could “rest easy.”

More tech groups and companies are expected to urge the administration to keep DACA in place, according to sources.

The tech industry has clashed with Trump over a number of his policies, from the travel ban on people from Muslim-majority countries, to climate change, to rescinding protections for transgender individuals.