Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg waded further into the world of politics on Thursday with aWashington Post op-ed announcing FWD.us, a group of tech luminaries arguing for immigration reform.
In the opinion piece, Zuckerberg describes how, while teaching middle school, he met a student who showed promise but had no hopes of going to college because the student was an undocumented immigrant who was born in Mexico. "These students are smart and hardworking, and they should be part of our future," Zuckerberg writes. He then goes on to explain how his great-grandparents came through Ellis Island and — a couple of generations later — his family had joined the professional class. "None of this could have happened without a welcoming immigration policy, a great education system and the world’s leading scientific community that created the Internet."
Zuckerberg then calls the federal government's current immigration policy "strange" and in need of reform. Among Zuckerberg's proposals are effective border security; a path to citizenship for the most talented, hard-working people "no matter where they were born"; higher standards for our schools including a greater focus on science, technology, engineering and math; and investments in "breakthrough discoveries in scientific research and assurance that the benefits of the inventions belong to the public and not just to the few."
Though Zuckerberg has taken a leadership role in FWD.us, the group includes several other tech notables including Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and Reid Hoffman, among others.
The stance comes as Zuckerberg, 28, has expanded his interests beyond Facebook in recent years. Admittedly influenced by Bill Gates' philanthropy, Zuckerberg made headlines in 2010 when he donated $100 million to Newark, N.J.'s public schools. More recently, Zuckerberg threw a fundraiser for Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
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