Read what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees on Trump's immigration ban

January 31, 2017

Read what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees on Trump's immigration ban

Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who came to the United States from India, offered his personal take on President Donald Trump's controversial immigration ban at an employee Q&A session, as shared in a Microsoft blog.

"There is no place for bias or bigotry in any society, in any context. That’s where we start from," Nadella told employees. "It is the enlightened immigration policy of this country that even made it possible for me to come here in the first place, and gave me all this opportunity."

You can read his full remarks below.

Separately, Microsoft says that it's ready to support Washington state's legal action against Trump's immigration order — an action in which fellow Washington-based tech titans Amazon and Expedia are already participating. The company tells Business Insider that it's already providing the state with information and ready to testify as required.

Previously, in a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson derided the order as "misguided and a fundamental step backwards." And in a company-wide e-mail to employees on Saturday afternoon, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote "We believe that immigration laws can and should protect the public without sacrificing people’s freedom of expression or religion."

Nadella isn't the only top tech exec speaking out against the order, either: On Monday afternoon, for instance, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who came to the United States as a refugee, told an employee-organized protest that he was "outraged by the order."

Read Nadella's full remarks:

I always come back to two things. One is the enduring principles and values that drive us as a company, that have made us and this country what it is, and my own personal story.

There is no place for bias or bigotry in any society, in any context. That’s where we start from. We will always as a company stand for that diversity and inclusion. And we’ll keep pushing at it, pushing at it, and making progress. That’s core to who we are. That I believe is core to what America is.

I mean, think about it, I am a product of the fundamental greatness of the United States. It is the ingenuity of the American technology that reached me where I was growing up that even made it possible for me to dream of being able to be part of this journey. It is the enlightened immigration policy of this country that even made it possible for me to come here in the first place, and gave me all this opportunity.

And so I always think about that. I will always advocate for that America that I know and that I’ve experienced.

And we will do that consistently. We’re not going to overreact because of any one incident, but we will always stand for what we believe are these enduring principles that really are going to be about us as a company, but also recognizing that we’re a multinational company that is an American company.

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