Washington: Google CEO Sunder Pichai has expressed disappointment over the proclamation issued by US President Donald Trump to temporarily suspend foreign work visas, including the H-1B, and said he would stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.
Immigration has contributed immensely to America's economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today, Indian-American Pichai said in a tweet hours after Trump issued his proclamation in this regard.
Disappointed by today's proclamation - we'll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all, Pichai said.
In a separate statement, Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, slammed the latest move of the Trump administration.
The latest travel ban is a new season of the same racist, xenophobic show put on by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, she said.
But Trump's transparent effort to rally his base and distract from his innumerable failures, including his disastrous response to COVID-19, will not work. Indeed, the courts will stop his unlawful actions targeting immigrants, Gupta said.
Like the past versions of this overused script using a pandemic to justify white nationalist policies, it deserves to be cancelled, she said.
Alice G Wells, who till a few weeks ago was the point person of the Trump administration for South and Central Asia, also opposed the move.
Being able to attract the best and the brightest through the H1-B visa programme has made America more successful and resilient. Knowing how to tap foreign talent is a US strength, not a weakness! Wells said.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
