US President Donald Trump's decision to separate families crossing the US border illegally has led to the "arrest" of thousands of children in numerous detention camps across the country. Leaked images of the children have sparked widespread outrage, with several companies issuing statements condemning the action.
This has now affected Microsoft, due to its contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As a result of developer with GitHub, more than 70 contributors have signed a letterthreatening to abandon the platform if Microsoft chooses to continue its partnership with the agency.
Microsoft was already facing problems with open source enthusiasts and developers after the official announcement of its acquisition of GitHub. There were even reports that many developers abandoned GitHub and turned to alternatives like GitLab.
Regarding the ICE issue, the letter simply says the following:
“Tell Microsoft to stop working with ICE, otherwise they will lose us GitHub users”
According to the letter, Microsoft's partnership with ICE includes providing cloud-powered identity and using machine learning for facial recognition.
“We are appalled and express our strong objection to the Trump administration’s policies regarding enfranchisement, decriminalization, deportation, and family separation, as conducted by ICE,” the letter states.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, on the other hand, downplayed the company's contribution to ICE, saying it only deals with email, messaging, and calendaring. However, his statement contradicts an old company post in which the company boasted about providing machine learning technology for facial recognition.
