Facebook CEO takes shot at Trump's anti-immigration remarks

Facebook CEO takes shot at Trump's anti-immigration remarks. April. 14, 2016 07:21. by 이유종기자 pen@donga.com.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg indirectly criticized U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump who expresses his outright opposition to the U.S. immigration policy.

According to the British daily Financial Times, Zuckerberg said in his keynote speech at Facebook's F8 developer conference on Tuesday, "We are one global community. Whether we are welcoming a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant seeking opportunity, coming together to fight a global disease like Ebola or to address climate change."

"Now, as I look around and travel around the world, I'm starting to see people and nations turning inward against this idea of a connected world," he said. "I hear fearful voices call for building walls and reducing trade and stopping immigration." He went on to say, "It takes courage to choose hope over fear… That's why I think the work we're all doing together is more important now than it's ever been before."

Although Zuckerberg did not directly mention Trump, the Financial Times and other major foreign news media reported that the Facebook founder indirectly denounced the GOP frontrunner, who had been making radical arguments for building a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border and banning Muslims immigrants from entering the U.S.

Zuckerberg and Trump have been debating over the U.S. immigration policy since last year. In August, the Facebook chief called for the expansion of the H-1B visa program to attract more skilled engineers from abroad. Trump reacted by arguing that many large U.S. companies were abusing the H-1B visas to hire foreign professions, preventing many jobless Americans from getting new jobs. The United States issues H-1B visas every year to some 20,000 people with a doctoral degree and 65,000 university diploma holders.

When Trump said he would expel all illegal immigrants late last year, FWD.us, a nongovernmental organization which Zuckerberg was involving in founding, waged a public campaign to publicly rebut Trump's arguments.