|
The
CEOs will include Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Walmart's Doug
McMillon, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, HP's Enrique Lores and others.
They are part of a council of leaders affiliated with Welcome.US,
a group dedicated to helping support refugees in the United
States.
They will meet Zients and other White House officials "to
discuss specific ways we can continue to work together to
support safe, orderly pathways for people in need of safety to
come to the United States, including through refugee
resettlement and new, expanded humanitarian sponsorship
programs," a White House official told Reuters.
Gap CEO Richard Dickson, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, Lyft Inc CEO
David Risher, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, and T-Mobile CEO Mike
Sievert were also expected to attend, along with representatives
from Airbnb, Blackstone, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, Meta and
others.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul met Zients and other senior
administration officials last month to discuss an influx of
migrants in New York City that has strained its resources.
Republicans have hammered Biden, a Democrat, for his policies on
immigration, and the issue is likely to feature prominently in
the 2024 presidential campaign, when Biden, who is running for
re-election, is likely to face former President Donald Trump,
the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination and
an immigration hardliner.
Biden sought at the beginning of his administration to recast
the U.S. immigration system, but appetite in Congress for
comprehensive reform legislation has been low.
The White House, which says it wants to partner with the private
sector to build a humane immigration system, worked with
Welcome.US to help Afghan refugees coming to the United States
after Biden pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in 2021.
Welcome.US and its CEO Council have worked with the
administration to "implement the largest expansion of
humanitarian sponsorship pathways to safety in the United States
in recent history," a representative for the group said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
