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Article

19 Jun 2018

Author:
Lila MacLellan, Quartz at Work

American CEOs are beginning to speak out against separating families at the border

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The US government and the general public are beginning to hear from corporate leaders about the shockingly cruel policy of separating families at the US-Mexico border... in the past 24 hours, a handful of business executives—primarily from the tech world—have come forward to condemn the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy... Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian took to Twitter and called a video from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “reprehensible.” Jeff Lawson, CEO and cofounder of software maker Twilio, published a Medium post titled “Separating immigrant families isn’t just wrong, it’s a war crime.” ... Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, took advantage of his own platform to solicit ideas for what could be done to #KeepFamiliesTogether... Bastian Lehmann, founder and CEO of Postmates... joined the chorus on Tuesday, suggesting that the New York Times assist readers as they consider their voting options for the midterm elections by listing the Congressional representatives who have supported the “zero tolerance” policy... Amy Bohutinsky, COO of real estate giant Zillow [tweeted]... "I can’t help thinking that if my dad – who was a 9 yr old immigrant – was separated or lost from his parents, how differently his life and mine would have turned out. We are better than this." Many other executives, even those who have taken public stances on social issues in the past, are still missing... [According to] Twilio’s Lawson, "As a tech leader and public CEO, I’m often advised to stay apolitical,” he wrote on Medium. “But this isn’t politics, I believe this is a matter of objective right and wrong. Staying silent doesn’t feel like leadership to me. I encourage other leaders to consider the cost of silence.”

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