After the Trump administration moved to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Microsoft said it would pay legal and court fees for its 39 "Dreamer" employees if needed, wrote Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer at Microsoft, in a Sept. 5 blog post.
DACA provides protections for immigrants who entered the U.S. without legal permission as children. The program's end would compromise protection of nearly 800,000 of these immigrants, commonly referred to as "Dreamers."
Congress has six months to replace DACA with new immigration legislation, which Mr. Smith argues should be prioritized over the tax reform bill.
If Congress does not act within six months, Mr. Smith said Microsoft pledged to provide and pay for legal counsel for its employees, should the government seek to deport them. "In short, if Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side," he wrote.
"As an employer, we appreciate that Dreamers add to the competitiveness and economic success of our company and the entire nation's business community," Mr. Smith wrote. "Urgent DACA legislation is both an economic imperative and a humanitarian necessity."
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