BlackBerry CEO John Chen issues statement on U.S. immigration ban

Following in the footsteps of many tech leaders who have now spoke out against President Trump's executive order and immigration ban, BlackBerry CEO John Chen has issued his own statement on behalf of BlackBerry.

Like many of you, I am disheartened and do not agree with the sharpness of President Trump's executive order and immigration ban.

Many technology companies, both in the U.S. and in Canada, were founded by immigrants. At BlackBerry, more than half of the executive team and many of our employees – including myself – are immigrants, so we see firsthand every day the value and benefits of legal immigration. While there is a need to protect citizens, we must also preserve our strength in diversity.

In addition, President Trump has spoken of his desire to ease doing business globally, and this does not help in that regards. If this does not get resolved in a more compassionate manner, it will hurt trade, especially if the ban expands beyond these seven countries.

We hope that this new administration will find better ways to handle such matters in the future. I also encourage you to continue to seek out and build diverse teams. BlackBerry and the countries we live in will be better for this.

Additionally, John Chen called into BNN earlier today to offer additional perspective into the matters, noting that while no BlackBerry employees have been affected, "We're really talking about a bigger thing, not just whether you have people in those seven countries or not."

Via: Inside BlackBerry