The public outcry over the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the US border is spilling over to Microsoft, which has a contract with federal immigration authorities. In January, Microsoft announced that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was using the company's Azure cloud service "for facial recognition and identification" purposes. "We're proud to support this work," the tech giant said at the time. Now Microsoft is getting slammed for that partnership; the same federal agency has been helping US authorities carry out the separation of families detained at the US-Mexico border. On social media, critics called on Microsoft employees to demand that their employer drop the government contract. It didn't help that Microsoft bungled its initial response to the controversy. On Monday morning, the company tried to remove mention of its work with the immigration agency, and journalists quickly took note. Microsoft then told Bloomberg the deletion was a "mistake" and that section was restored. Later in the day, Microsft released a formal statement, which calls on the Trump administration to stop the family separations. "We urge the administration to change its policy and Congress to pass legislation ensuring children are no longer separated from their families," the company said. Although Microsoft said it was "dismayed" by the forcible separations, the company has yet to provide details about its contract with US immigration authorities, like how the facial-recognition tech is exactly being used. In its statement, Microsoft merely said the partnerships had nothing to do with separating children from their parents. "And contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose," it said. Still, the contract poses a PR headache for the company, when its CEO Satya Nadella has previously spoken out against the Trump's administration's stricter policies on immigration. "We also believe in broader immigration opportunities, like the protections for talented and law-abiding young people under the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, often called 'Dreamers,'" he wrote in January 2017.
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The public outcry over the Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the US border is spilling over to Microsoft, which has a contract with federal immigration authorities. In January, Microsoft announced that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was using the company's Azure cloud service "for facial recognition and identification" purposes. "We're proud to support this work," the tech giant said at the time. Now Microsoft is getting slammed for that partnership; the same federal agency has been helping US authorities carry out the separation of families detained at the US-Mexico border. On social media, critics called on Microsoft employees to demand that their employer drop the government contract. It didn't help that Microsoft bungled its initial response to the controversy. On Monday morning, the company tried to remove mention of its work with the immigration agency, and journalists quickly took note. Microsoft then told Bloomberg the deletion was a "mistake" and that section was restored. Later in the day, Microsft released a formal statement, which calls on the Trump administration to stop the family separations. "We urge the administration to change its policy and Congress to pass legislation ensuring children are no longer separated from their families," the company said. Although Microsoft said it was "dismayed" by the forcible separations, the company has yet to provide details about its contract with US immigration authorities, like how the facial-recognition tech is exactly being used. In its statement, Microsoft merely said the partnerships had nothing to do with separating children from their parents. "And contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose," it said. Still, the contract poses a PR headache for the company, when its CEO Satya Nadella has previously spoken out against the Trump's administration's stricter policies on immigration. "We also believe in broader immigration opportunities, like the protections for talented and law-abiding young people under the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, often called 'Dreamers,'" he wrote in January 2017.