Microsoft exception to Trump’s immigration ban should be granted

Some of our most highly qualified computer security experts are here on non-immigrant work visas sponsored by U.S. employers and enrolled in E-Verify. On the same coin, many foreign college and university students, who have clean backgrounds and criminal records, are preparing for the most in-demand U.S. cybersecurity jobs that American students don’t seem to have an interest in. All of these people will be adversely affected by recent executive order signed by President Trump – that is, unless Microsoft’s requested exceptions are granted soon. 

While the president’s order restricting travel from countries with known ties to terrorist activities makes sense from a security standpoint, the exceptions requested would ensure that we don’t lose travel of computer technology workers and students who pose no threat. The request was put in a few days ago from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, the two government officials empowered to grant exceptions to the executive order, by Bradford L. Smith, the president and chief legal officer at Microsoft.

{mosads}In that letter to Secretaries Kelly and Tillerson, Smith notes that Microsoft has 76 employees, who along with their 41 dependents, hold non-immigrant visas and work in the U.S. whose travel would be restricted by the executive order. Some of them have pressing needs, related to family or other issues that require travel to their home countries, and back to the U.S., that would be prohibited. The letter seeks exceptions for them as “Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs.” The proposed exception will allow these people, who have already been thoroughly vetted, to travel as needed while also keeping in place the protections to national security put in place by the executive order.

“We have reviewed carefully the Executive Order, which was signed January 27, 2017 and amended on February 1, 2017. Section 3(g) of the Executive Order specifically states that “the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security may, on a case-by-case basis, and when in the national interest, issue visas or other immigration benefits to nationals of countries for which visas and benefits are otherwise blocked,” Smith wrote. “We therefore believe that the process we are proposing here is not only consistent with the Executive Order, but was contemplated by it.”

National security is the highest priority of the U.S. federal government, and while the executive order reflects the administration’s strong commitment to keeping us safe, it should also be noted how important a need the U.S. has for cybersecurity experts to protect and defend the American populace. Many of these workers and students, for which Microsoft seeks the exception, are experts or seeking education in the areas of computer science and cybersecurity. 

We currently face a huge shortage of individuals with the needed expertise in computer science to work in the field of cybersecurity. Our computers and networks are under constant threat from hackers based in China, Russia, North Korea and other countries. While it is estimated that the U.S. has only about 1000 individuals with skills and expertise to defend against the most complex cyberattacks, we currently need as many as 30,000 such individuals. It is estimated there are about 209,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in our country.

The request by Microsoft is clearly consistent with upholding the intent of the executive order to protect our national security, while also recognizing the need for foreign help in protecting the citizenry from virtual threats. Under the scope of the current executive order, these workers will be restricted despite not posing a threat, a point Smith emphasized by writing in the letter: “These are not situations that law-abiding individuals should be forced to confront when there is no evidence that they pose a security or safety threat to the United States.”

The “Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs” exception requested by Microsoft makes sense, it is in our national interest, and it will help improve U.S. cybersecurity. It should be granted immediately. 

Dean Chambers is a former national pollster whose work has been featured on the Drudge Report and on The Rush Limbaugh Program, as well as parodied by Stephen Colbert, Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow.

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