Microsoft CLO Brad Smith Addresses Immigration Anxieties in Post
Smith authored a blog post Wednesday touching on numerous immigration issues facing Microsoft's employees, including those around H-1B visas and the green card backlog.
January 11, 2018 at 02:26 PM
3 minute read
Microsoft's Brad Smith. Courtesy photo.
Brad Smith, the president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, has long been known as one of tech's most vocal legal leaders. And on Wednesday, Smith spoke out again, authoring a blog post that addressed Microsoft employees' fears around U.S. immigration policy.
Smith said Microsoft employees were particularly concerned by rumors that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) planned to end H-1B extensions beyond six years. The extensions allow immigrants waiting in long green card lines to remain in the United States past the six-year mark, crucial for immigrants in cases where, he writes, “the annual limits for their birth country are out of sync with demand.”
The rumor of extensions ending was false, but Smith writes there's still a need for a serious discussion to address the lengthy, stress-inducing backlog and other immigration policies.
“They [the employees] are talented professionals already certified by the U.S. Department of Labor as meriting a green card,” Smith wrote. “They fear that their spouses will lose the ability to work through the cessation of H-4 authorizations. They worry that their children will turn 21 before they make it through the backlog, rendering them ineligible for green cards as dependents.”
He offered up a policy solution that could cut down lines while boosting resources for American-born workers. New fees on green cards, he writes, could be used to fund STEM education programs in the United States. It's a policy idea Smith said Microsoft first proposed in 2012 with the company's release of “A National Talent Strategy.”
Smith's post comes amid immigration drama related to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California temporarily blocked the Trump administration's decision to end protection for certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.
Smith wrote that there are 45 DACA recipients or “Dreamers” working at Microsoft. The company, in conjunction with Princeton University, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in November of last year over Trump's plans to end the DACA program.
And it's not the only time Smith has taken action on immigration reform. After the Trump administration's ban on immigrants from certain Muslim-majority countries, Smith offered legal assistance to impacted employees.
“But we also should not lose sight of other key immigration issues such as the green card backlog,” he wrote. “We recognize the challenges for high skilled immigration reform are significant, but in the end, we believe reforms are critical to improving fairness in the immigration process for those who contribute so significantly to our country's economy, and to ensuring the U.S. remains a magnet for the world's top talent.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllInside Track: Late-Career In-House Leaders Offer Words to Live by
'You Don't Know Everything': GCs Say Success Leading Nonlegal Functions Starts With Humility
5 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Dechert partners Andrew J. Levander, Angela M. Liu and Neil A. Steiner have stepped in to defend Arbor Realty Trust and certain executives in a pending securities class action. The complaint, filed July 31 in New York Eastern District Court by Levi & Korsinsky, contends that the defendants concealed a 'toxic' mobile home portfolio, vastly overstated collateral in regards to the company's loans and failed to disclose an investigation of the company by the FBI. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, is 1:24-cv-05347, Martin v. Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Arthur G. Jakoby, Ryan Feeney and Maxim M.L. Nowak from Herrick Feinstein have stepped in to defend Charles Dilluvio and Seacor Capital in a pending securities lawsuit. The complaint, filed Sept. 30 in New York Southern District Court by the Securities and Exchange Commission, accuses the defendants of using consulting agreements, attorney opinion letters and other mechanisms to skirt regulations limiting stock sales by affiliate companies and allowing the defendants to unlawfully profit from sales of Enzolytics stock. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr., is 1:24-cv-07362, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Zhabilov et al.
Who Got The Work
Clark Hill members Vincent Roskovensky and Kevin B. Watson have entered appearances for Architectural Steel and Associated Products in a pending environmental lawsuit. The complaint, filed Aug. 27 in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court by Brodsky & Smith on behalf of Hung Trinh, accuses the defendant of discharging polluted stormwater from its steel facility without a permit in violation of the Clean Water Act. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, is 2:24-cv-04490, Trinh v. Architectural Steel And Associated Products, Inc.
Who Got The Work
Michael R. Yellin of Cole Schotz has entered an appearance for S2 d/b/a the Shoe Surgeon, Dominic Chambrone a/k/a Dominic Ciambrone and other defendants in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The case, filed July 15 in New York Southern District Court by DLA Piper on behalf of Nike, seeks to enjoin Ciambrone and the other defendants in their attempts to build an 'entire multifaceted' retail empire through their unauthorized use of Nike’s trademark rights. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, is 1:24-cv-05307, Nike Inc. v. S2, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Sullivan & Cromwell partner Adam S. Paris has entered an appearance for Orthofix Medical in a pending securities class action arising from a proposed acquisition of SeaSpine by Orthofix. The suit, filed Sept. 6 in California Southern District Court, by Girard Sharp and the Hall Firm, contends that the offering materials and related oral communications contained untrue statements of material fact. According to the complaint, the defendants made a series of misrepresentations about Orthofix’s disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting and ethical compliance. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez, is 3:24-cv-01593, O'Hara v. Orthofix Medical Inc. et al.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250