【1995 Archives】

Mark Zuckerberg spoke rapidly without pausing as he held a press conference Wednesday995 ArchivesFacebook Live. But he wasn't presenting a new product or talking about our future with video.

The CEO of Facebook used his powerful digital megaphone to speak openly about President Donald Trump's decision to repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era program that protected undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

"To offer the American Dream to people and then to take it away and punish people for trusting their government and coming out of the shadows … is one of the most troubling things that I’ve seen in a long time in our country," Zuckerberg said before he let three "Dreamers," as the immigrants are called, share their stories. Former President Barack Obama's DACA program allowed Dreamers to go to school and work without fear of deportation so long as they registered with the federal government. They could even enlist in the military. There are about 800,000 Dreamers.

Zuckerberg spoke repeatedly about the "misrepresentations" that he believes people have about U.S. immigration policy.

"It's not that Dreamers aren't patient and willing to be legal in the country. It's that there's no path," Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg is at home on paternity leave, but he hasn't simply been spending the time away from his desk at Facebook relaxing with his wife Priscilla Chan and their new daughter August.

Instead, the 33-year-old CEO has gotten extremely political as Trump upholds his promise to remove the federal program. He posted on Facebook mere minutes after the repeal was announced Tuesday, encouraging people to call Congress and tell them to pass new legislation to protect Dreamers. Trump has given Congress six months to put in place a program to replace DACA.

"This is a sad day for our country," Zuckerberg wrote.

Prior to the repeal, Zuckerberg responded to people's Facebook comments trying to educate them on immigration policy.

Zuckerberg has been quite vocal about his support for immigration reform over the last few years. In 2013, he cofounded FWD.us, a lobbying group focused on the matter. At that time, he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Posttitled "Immigrants are key to a knowledge economy."

Two of the Dreamers on the Facebook Live Wednesday work for FWD.us. Another participant named Tomas helps run a group called California Dreamers.

"All we're asking is for a chance. Hey, give us an opportunity to even start," Tomas said.

Maria, one of the workers in FWD.us, shared her history growing up as a typical American. She was in a Girl Scout troop. She played basketball and clarinet. Zuckerberg also revealed he played clarinet but wasn't very good at it.

"There were different stories that I would fabricate to try to appear as normal to my peers," Maria said. "Even though you feel American, you do not feel like this country accepts you."

"You are American, and our country benefits from having you here. You all work super hard. You are what we all want our children to do," Zuckerberg said to Maria.

Zuckerberg's passion for immigration policy was in part inspired by a student he taught in an after-school class on entrepreneurship. That student, who Zuckerberg wrote about in 2013 and referenced again in his commencement speech at Harvard this year, was unclear about his college ambitions because he is undocumented.

Zuckerberg found that to be unfair. As the leader of a multibillion-dollar tech giant, he's seen the need to fill difficult jobs with talented individuals. That's why he's an advocate for H1-B visas as well as immigration reform.

"To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most talented and hardest-working people. We need to train and attract the best. We need those middle-school students to be tomorrow’s leaders," Zuckerberg wrote back in 2013.

Zuckerberg isn't the only tech leader speaking out in support of DACA. Microsoft revealed that 27 employees at the company benefit from DACA (which provides work permits to qualified applicants). Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted "250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers." Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called the ruling "completely unnecessary and cruel."

Zuckerberg ended the 45-minute broadcast by explaining how people can make sure Dreamers are not deported. One of the most important ways, he said, is calling your Congressional representatives since they have the power to move new legislation forward. Although Trump gave Congress six months to replace DACA, it's important to note lawmakers haven't been able to pass their own legislation related to undocumented immigrants who arrived as children in the 16 years they've been attempting to do so.

"A lot of people stand with you, and we're going to fight," Zuckerberg said before the livestream ended.