Thousands of Googlers protest Trump's immigration order
Google employees from offices worldwide, along with co-founder Sergey Brin, gather to speak out against President Trump's immigration restrictions.
Google employees gathered to protest President Trump's executive order on immigration.
Googlers are speaking out.
Employees at the search giant came out en masse on Monday to protest President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration. The walkout included more than 2,000 Google workers from campuses around the world. On Twitter, #GooglersUnite was the battle cry.
The protest was a response to an executive order Trump signed last Friday that, among other things, temporarily banned immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
CEO Sundar Pichai, who was born in India, and co-founder Sergey Brin, an immigrant and refugee from Russia, joined the protest. Brin also went to a protest at San Francisco airport on Saturday night.
"I'm glad to see that energy here today and around the world to know that people are fighting for what's right out there," Brin said on Monday, according to Forbes.
Several tech companies, including Facebook, Apple and Airbnb, have spoken out against the order, but Google's protest seems to be the sharpest rebuke from Silicon Valley.
Earlier in the day, Google announced a $4 million crisis fund to support immigration causes. And on Friday, after the order was signed, Pichai reportedly sent a memo to employees affected by the ban to cut overseas trips short and return to the US.
A source familiar with Google's operations said the protest was organized by employees but supported by the company. Below are some scenes from the protest:
Life, disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it? CNET investigates.
CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.