The Trump Administration announced Tuesday that it will end the Deferred Act for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and both national and local tech leaders have blasted the decision as "dangerous," "disappointing," and "completely immoral."
The rule prevented children who were brought to the United States by their parents illegally from being deported. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision to end the program Tuesday morning, saying that the administration would not be accepting new applications for the program.
Several Chicago tech leaders have signed a letter to congressional leadership asking them to prevent the end of the program. Local names include Outcome Health founders Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal; Ujjwal Gupta, the founder of BenchPrep; Mark Harris, head of the ISTC; Fred Hoch, former head of the ITA; Jacob Babcock, the CEO of NuCurrent; George Bousis the CEO of Raise; Terry Howerton, the CEO of TechNexus; and others.
In an email to Chicago Inno, Howerton said: "It's enormously disappointing that America would lure kids from the shadows and then renege on their security and safety. But more than the moral arguments, repealing DACA has an immediate and massive negative impact on our economy: this policy represents nearly half a trillion dollars in GDP, these are students, employees and young entrepreneurs.
"Ultimately, Congress must act, not just to protect the DACA kids who have grown up in America, but to address comprehensive immigration reform. 40% of all venture backed startups in the United States depend on immigrants on their founding teams. Immigrant entrepreneurs and technology developers are a critical part of the job creation engine in this country, and Congress can't continue to ignore the impact their failure to act is having on the long-term vibrancy of our economy."
Babcock, whose startup NuCurrent is working on wireless charging and has raised $3.5 million emailed the following:
"I am incredibly disappointed by President Trump's decision to end DACA. In six months,
this will force 800,000 Dreamers out of their jobs and put them under threat of immediate
deportation, unless Congress acts. What this decision makes abundantly clear is that
Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle must immediately come together---right now--and pass a bipartisan Dream Act: 800,000 lives are at stake."
George Bousis, the CEO of online gift card marketplace Raise, told me: "I’m deeply saddened by today’s announcement ending the DACA program. The United States was built with the help of millions of immigrants over many generations. These include the very Dreamers who have only known this land as their home. As a first-generation American born to Greek immigrant parents, I firmly stand alongside all immigrants who come to America in search of a better life. I believe that overturning DACA is harmful to our country, our economy and the entire tech industry as a whole. We need to come together as a nation to give ALL the opportunity to succeed. I encourage everyone to call your state's representatives for Congress to act in a bipartisan manner to help the 800,000 Dreamers in America."
Other notable tech figures took to Twitter to express their concerns about ending DACA.
Pritzker Group founder and gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker
This move is dangerous, bigoted, and completely immoral. #DefendDACA https://t.co/08taUdHxBk
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) September 5, 2017
Modest founder and former CTO for the Obama campaign Harper Reed
The @GOP and trump are destroying the US and all that we have worked for.
— harper (@harper) September 5, 2017
Enova CTO John J. Higginson
Deporting kids is not American. Period. "DACA’s day of reckoning: protests on the day of Trump’s decision" https://t.co/rzoTCMdLH0
— John J. Higginson (@johnjhigginson) September 5, 2017
Nationally, the tech community has loudly criticized the decision. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it "a sad day for our country" and called the decision "not just wrong. It is particularly cruel."
Apple CEO Tim Cook told his employees in an email, in part: "I am deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans -- including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers -- may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they've ever called home."
And Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted: "Dreamers are our neighbors, our friends and our co-workers. This is their home. Congress needs to act now to #DefendDACA. #WithDreamers."
