A Muslim civil rights group and a national racial justice organization are demanding the resignations of all 19 chief executives who sit on Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a presidential advisory council of highly successful business leaders.
The 19 members of Trump’s business council include Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo; Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber; Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company; and Doug McMillon, CEO of Wal-Mart.
Muslim Advocates, the civil rights group, and Color of Change, the racial justice organization, describe Trump’s order suspending entry into the United States for people from seven predominantly Muslim nations as “an anti-refugee and anti-Muslim executive order” in a press release sent to The Daily Caller.
“Being a member of this council is an endorsement of bigotry,” said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates.
A few of the business leaders have offered statements on Trump’s immigrant ban.
Here’s Musk, for example:
Uber, meanwhile, released a statement saying the company would “urge the government to reinstate the right of U.S. residents to travel — whatever their country of origin — immediately,” according to USA Today.
Kalanick, the Uber CEO, also pledged $3 million toward a legal defense fund for the company’s drivers, many of whom are immigrants.
Comments and promises about Trump’s executive order are insufficient, Khera, the Muslim Advocates director, said. “If these companies want to be on the right side of history and the right side of their customers, they’ll step down from this council immediately.”
Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color Of Change, vehemently criticized CEOs for remaining on the Trump business council.
“These CEOs are selling out our country and its values, all to make a quick buck by having access to the President,” Robinson said. “We won’t mince words: any CEO who stays on this council is placing access to power over people’s lives, they are putting money over this country’s future.”
In August, Robinson criticized Facebook after the social media giant deleted the personal Facebook account of a dead woman who got her five-year-old son shot in an hours-long standoff with police officers. Cops were attempting to serve the deceased woman, Korryn Gaines, with an outstanding arrest warrant for a previous failure to appear in court. The child survived. (RELATED: Black Lives Matter Demands Facebook Revive Account Of Woman Killed For Shooting At Cops With Large Gun)
The idea behind Trump’s business council is that he will be able to meet with the 19 various members to draw upon their professional experience and business acumen to carry out his economic agenda.
Trump’s executive order, immediately effective as of Friday, bars Syrian refugees from the U.S. until their admission into the country is deemed “consistent with the national interest.”
The seven predominantly Muslim nations from which potential immigrants are barred — for 90 days — are: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. (RELATED: Nations Hit By Trump Travel Ban Have Produced 7 Percent Of Muslim Terrorists, ZERO Fatalities)
Trump’s order was initially interpreted to include green card holders, or permanent residents. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus walked this back Sunday and said that green card holders will be allowed to enter the U.S., before adding that immigration officials have “discretionary authority” to detain suspicious travelers.
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