Google Employees Stage Walk-Out Against Trump Immigration Order In Manhattan

CHELSEA, NY — Google employees of the Downtown Manhattan office staged a walk-out on Monday night against President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration in tandem with more than 2,000 Google employees from at least eight offices nationwide. The protesters in Manhattan chanted "Say it loud! Say it clear! Protesters are welcome here!" on 16th Street and 8th Avenue in Chelsea at around 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, witnesses said.

Google employees from around the country tweeted photos and videos from their protests under #GooglersUnite. In reaction to Trump's executive order established Friday that bans refugees from several Muslim-majority countries from coming to the U.S., Google employees raised $2 million to a crisis fund that'll be split up among nonprofit groups that support refugees. Google matched the donation. Follow NYC protests and other news by subscribing to the New York City Patch for email newsletters and news alerts that go to your phone.

Google cofounder Sergey Brin said on Monday that he was at the protest because he himself was a refugee. He told protesters at the Mountain View, CA location his immigration story during the demonstration in what was the late afternoon there.

"I came here to the U.S. at age 6 with my family from the Soviet Union, which at that time was the greatest enemy the U.S. had — maybe it still is in some form — but it was a dire period of the Cold War," Brin said, according to witnesses. "Some of you probably remember it. And there was threat of nuclear annihilation. And even then the U.S. had the courage to take me and my family in as refugees."

Lead photo by @nivvedan/Twitter