Tech execs trash Trump travel ban

We've heard many different reactions to Donald Trump's executive order that restricts travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. We've heard from legal experts, politicians, citizensbut what about the tech industry?

What's interesting to me is how we've seen not just official statements from companies themselves, but personal statements from their executives and investors. Part of that may be related to just how many successful U.S. tech startups were founded by immigrants.

The thread running through much of the reaction is concern. Concern that changes in immigration policy could disrupt innovation in the tech sector. Of course, there's the executive order restricting travel into the U.S. But we're also seeing reports that Trump's administration has drafted another executive order that would make substantial changes to visa programs, like the H1-B visa, which tech companies often use to hire highly-skilled foreign workers in the U.S.

Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, also wrote a note to employees. In it, he said that more than 100 Google employees are affected by the order, and that "it's painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues."

Microsoft and Facebookboth issued statements expressing concern.In addition to their companies' official statements, CEOs Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella made their own statements through their personal social media accounts. Zuckerberg posting to his Facebook page, wrote: "We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported more than $24 million in donations in a single weekend, which is six times their average annual online donations. According to the ACLU, that came from more than 350,000 donors, including some high-profile tech executives and investors.

For instance, Chris Sacca who was an early investor in both Twitter and Uber tweeted over the weekend that he would match donations to the ACLU up to $150,000. A number of tech high flyers followed suit, promising to match pledges to the ACLU.

We saw an interesting example of this over the weekend, from Airbnb, the short-term rental company.Airbnb's CEO tweeted his disapproval of Trump's travel ban.He then announced that Airbnb will provide "free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the U.S."

If the need for housing is greater than the number of volunteers, Airbnb says it'll step in and subsidize certain rental.To me, it's an interesting example because Airbnb is contributing something that's unique to them:their very large platformand marketplace of listed homes.

Canadian tech companies reported a large influx of resums immediately following the travel ban. Over the weekend, a group called Tech Without Borders issued an open letter calling for the federal government to offer visas to those displaced by the U.S. executive order, giving them temporary residence in Canada. (Canada already has a fast-track visa program for skilled foreign tech workers.) The letter was signed by a large number of Canadian tech leaders.

It seems that both the travel banand proposed changes to the U.S. visa program could have a significant impact on Canadian tech companies.If it becomes more difficult for American companies in particular, Silicon Valley companies to hire migrants, Canada could gain access to additional talent.