Mark Zuckerberg Criticizes Trump’s Refugee Ban
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized the entry and refugee ban in a post on the social media network.
“Like many of you, I’m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump,” Zuckerberg wrote.
“We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don’t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation,” in the statement posted Friday after President Donald Trump signed the executive order.
“We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
Zuckerberg noted that his great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland and that his wife Priscilla’s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam.
“The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that,” he said,
There has been speculation that Zuckerberg will launch a bid for president in future years and the post has added fuel to such conjecture, The Hill reported.
Zuckerberg praised Trump for saying he’s going to “work something out” for Dreamers — immigrants who were brought to the United States at a young age by their parents and are covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“I’m also glad the President believes our country should continue to benefit from ‘people of great talent coming into the country,’” he wrote.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
