An Open Letter to Our Companies on Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration

This morning we shared the following letter with our companies. The issue is important to us, so we are sharing it with you.

An Open Letter to BVP Portfolio Companies:

We at Bessemer Venture Partners are deeply concerned by how President Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration will impact high-tech and life-sciences companies and the well-being of employees and their families. The United States, and specifically our high-tech and healthcare industries, benefit from immigration and from the broader perspectives offered by diverse employees of different cultural backgrounds and faiths. We join many of our peers in the venture industry, and the CEOs of our portfolio companies Twilio and Box, in condemning this policy decision. While we commend President Trump’s stated goal of improving the safety of America’s homeland, we encourage his administration and Congress to find solutions that do not unfairly penalize foreign-born workers, treat refugees inhumanely, or compel the next generation of the world’s top thinkers and innovators to apply their skills in other countries. We also fear that the list of seven countries identified in the order will expand, or that subsequent actions will explicitly restrict immigration based upon religious affiliations.

America is home to the world’s leading high-technology industry, which has always depended upon foreign-born entrepreneurs and employees. Immigrants and their children founded nearly half of the Fortune 500 high-tech companies, thereby creating high quality jobs, globally competitive businesses, and products that improve all of our lives. America’s economy thrives because of immigration.

Even those of us who are not directly impacted by this executive order should be concerned by its tone and precedent. We encourage you to join us in taking action: tell your congressperson that you oppose this ban on immigrants and refugees; donate to the International Rescue Committee or Immigrant Legal Resource Center; and reach out to anyone who may feel unwelcome to reassure them that the President’s executive order defies the love and respect that most Americans feel for our friends, colleagues and neighbors from other lands.

Finally, please let us know if any of your staff are directly affected by the executive order — we are here to support and assist your team in any way that we can.

Sincerely and unanimously,

Bessemer Venture Partners