7 Companies that support refugees and immigrants

Refugee was defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention. This document outlined that: “A person who is forced to flee his or her home and has crossed an international border to seek safety is considered a refugee.”

If you are currently keeping up with news, you would know there has been a lot resistance against American Immigration policy, specifically, separating immigrant children from their families at the US and Mexico border. Backlash from communities caused President Trump to sign an executive order on family separation to put an end to this practice. However, this executive order may have taken away immigrant family separation, but it added family detention camps.

This is an imperative time, especially in America, to rally support for refugees and immigrants. A wonderful way to assist refugees and immigrants is by supporting large companies that back the cause on a large scale. The following are 7 companies that support refugees and immigrants.

Facebook

CEO, Mark Zuckerberg created a fundraiser on his personal Facebook Page. Fundraisers have been a trending sensation on Facebook in the past six months. It enables people to support causes they like by sharing them with friends and family. Mark Zuckerberg created a fundraiser to raise money for both Texas Civil Rights Project and RAICES.

Chobani

CEO of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya is an immigrant himself. In 1994 he emigrated from Turkey to the United States in 1994. Ulukaya has faced backlash for hiring refugees, including death threats. He started by hiring refugees from Utica, New York where they have been resettled by the government for his upstate New York factory. Now, almost 30% of Chobani’s employees are refugees.

TOMS

This shoe company chooses a very proactive way to support refugees. Many people who enjoy the TOMS company are aware of their One for One campaign, which paired shoes being purchased with a pair of shoes for a child in need of them. The company, additionally, partnered with ANERA to offer over 1,000 pairs of shoes to refugee children in Lebanon.

Starbucks

CEO Howard Schultz sent a letter to all employees stating that the American Dream maybe is being called into question. He created a plan to hire 10,000 refugees across all Starbucks locations by 2022. Soon after, President Trump supporters called for a boycott of the company.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s President Brad Smith wrote a blog post urging Trump’s administration to change immigration policies. In the blog post he discusses the Boarder Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018, highlighting important pieces of reform and seriously concerning pieces of the act. The company also partnered with Angelina Jolie in 2009 to create Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). KIND consists of staff and attorneys who represent unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children.

Dropbox

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston announced on Twitter that it would match employee donations to programmes like Angeline Jolie and Microsoft partner did for KIND. Drew Houston also made a personal donation himself.

UPS

UPS has partnered with UNHCR to create a UPS Relief Link program. The programme delivers supplies such as food, water, and blankets to refugees. Since starting it has reached over 120,000 refugees.

If you want to help the refugee crisis, you can campaign through Refugee Action, donate clothes via Help Refugees, or even sign up for volunteer alerts.