Elon Musk says Trump's immigration order is 'not the best way to address the country's challenges'
(Max Whittaker/Getty Images)
Elon Musk came out against President Donald Trump's controversial immigration order on Saturday night, joining a host of other tech CEOs publicly criticizing the order over the weekend.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also sits on Trump's economic advisory team, sent out a diplomatically worded statement saying that Trump's immigration order "is not the best way to address the country’s challenges," highlighting that it was affecting U.S. supporters who have done nothing wrong and "don't deserve to be rejected."
Trump's immigration order, which federal judges blocked in emergency rulings late Saturday night, barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for at least 90 days, including people who already have visas and legal permits to live in the US. The emergency stay now allows those who landed in the US and hold a valid visa to remain.
Musk joins tech CEOs like Apple's Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, and Google's Sundar Pichai in voicing concern over Trump's immigration order, but Musk's statements are especially notable because of his ties to Trump's administration.
In addition to serving on Trump's economic advisory team, Musk was recently named to Trump's "Manufacturing Jobs Initiative," a forum of notable businesses executives that will "be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge." Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, another member of the economic advisory team, was also named to the manufacturing forum.
Both Musk and Kalanick appear to be employing a diplomatic strategy with Trump, avoiding harshly-worded statements as they strive to balance the economic interests of their companies with the growing unrest among employees over the CEOs' ties to Trump.
Some protestors of Trump's immigration order have criticized this approach, likely hoping for a stronger public position from the CEOs. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, for example, called Trump's recent actions "so un-American it pains us all."