Google Employees Protest Trump's Immigration Ban

In an unusual sign of protest at an iconic Silicon Valley name, Google employees worldwide took to the streets to denounce Trump's new immigration policies that are directly impacting workers at the global giant.

At Google's headquarters in Mountain View on Monday, a quad was packed with Googlers toting signs reading "Nation of immigrants," "Even introverts are here" and "No ban, no wall."

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who joined the rally, has been highly critical of Trump's order and warned that it could prevent at least 187 foreign-born Google employees from entering the United States.

“There are some values that are foundational and you should never compromise on,” said Pichai, a U.S. citizen born in India. “It is core to the founding of this company.”

Silicon Valley relies heavily on a foreign and immigrant workforce. That's apparent at Google, where visitors can see large groups of Indians, Chinese, Iranians, Europeans and more — both foreign nationals and hyphenated Americans.

One of them — Soufi Esmaeilzdeh, an Iranian-born Canadian Google product manager — addressed the crowd. She was in Switzerland when news of the Trump policies broke, learning that the immigration freeze included people from Iran (the others are Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Sudan).

When Esmaeilzdeh asked Google’s immigration and security team if she should come home to the U.S., they advised her to stay put. It was unclear what the consequences would be and the Google team needed to figure it out.  

She asked, what would happen if she tried to  return?

They told her, "The likelihood was very high that I would either be deported, turned away and put on the next flight back to Canada or back to Europe." She was also told that if any of those immigration actions was taken, it could become a part of her record and pose a problem in the future.

And so, like an untold number of travelers, Esmaeilzdeh was stuck in limbo until the courts intervened.

The protest was capped off by an appearance from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who joined the large protests at San Francisco International Airport against the Trump policies over the weekend.

Brin, whose family immigrated from the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, reminded the crowd that tensions between the two nations were fierce and the relationship was full of mistrust.

“Nevertheless, this country was brave and welcoming," said Brin, who was six years old when his family moved to the U.S. "I wouldn’t be where I am here today, if it was not for this great country that stood up for liberty."

This story is part of our ongoing series on Techquity: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Silicon Valley.