NEW YORK (AP) — Technology companies and executives of other industries criticized the Trump administration for its plan to undo protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and called on Congress to help them.

President Donald Trump said he will dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, an Obama-era initiative that allowed young people who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children to work legally in the U.S., shielding them from deportation. Winding down the program could put the immigrants at risk of being sent back to the countries of their birth. The administration says Congress has six months to come up with a fix.

Tech companies have pushed back against efforts to curb immigration, which they see as vital to their industry. Immigrants make up about one-quarter of the U.S. technology and science workforce, and many in Silicon Valley feel a personal connection to the issue.

On Tuesday, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, said in a blog post that Congress should “move quickly with new legislation to protect these 800,000 Dreamers,” using a popular term for the young immigrants. Notably, Smith explicitly urged that immigration legislation take precedence over tax reform, another big legislative priority for corporate America.

Microsoft will also help affected employees with attorneys, amicus briefs and, when appropriate, direct legal intervention. “If Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side,” Smith wrote. He said there are 39 affected employees that the company knows of.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the decision “a sad day for our country” in a post , adding that it is “particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a note to employees that he was “deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans — including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers — may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they’ve ever called home.” He said Apple will work with Congress on legislation “that provides permanent protections for all the Dreamers in our country” and that the company will support employees in need.

Uber’s chief technology officer, Thuan Pham, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Vietnam, wrote in an online post that the ride-hailing company will “stand by immigrants who want nothing more than to contribute to our country and pursue the American Dream.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that “Dreamers are our neighbors, our friends and our co-workers. This is their home. Congress needs to act now to #DefendDACA. #WithDreamers.”

IBM posted a series of tweets supporting legislation to let the young immigrants stay in the U.S. and said that “we stand by our IBM #Dreamers.”

Other industries also slammed President Trump’s actions Tuesday. Randy Falco, CEO of the company that owns Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, said in a statement that he was “disappointed, to say the least,” in the administration’s actions Tuesday and that Congress must “fix this mess.”

Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, also urged Congress to act and said the young immigrants “are integral to the economy, culture and spirit of our nation.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted that “Congress must act fast to protect” the young immigrants.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs spoke out against undoing DACA, tweeting , “I wouldn’t deport a kid who was brought here and only knows America. Congress must address.” Ford, in a statement, also pushed for legislation to protect the young immigrants. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. should support immigrants who come to “learn” and “work hard.”

A letter from the technology-industry lobbying group FWD.us last week asked the president to keep DACA and for Congress to replace it with permanent legislation. Names attached to the letter included the heads of Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, Facebook, General Motors, Google, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, Starbucks, Twitter, Visa, Wells Fargo and Warren Buffett.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business group, said undoing the protections and deporting the young immigrants was “contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country” and said the administration and Congress must find a legislative solution quickly.

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• HOW TO HELP VICTIMS OF HURRICANE HARVEY</s>Key U.S. lawmakers and business leaders are calling for Congress to enact legislation to protect 800,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported, after President Donald Trump moved to end a program that allowed them to stay in the United States to study, work and serve in the military years after their parents illegally brought them into the country.

Speaker Paul Ryan, leader of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, said he hoped that Congress "with the president’s leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.”

Ryan said the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) created by former President Barack Obama, "however well-intentioned ... was a clear abuse of executive authority." But now, Ryan said, "there is more to do" to protect "young people who came to this country through no fault of their own," as well reach agreement on border security and other immigration issues.

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who last year lost the party's presidential nomination to Trump, said, "President Obama's executive order was illegal. However, this is a real problem we should solve in a bipartisan fashion."

Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who lost to Obama, said, "President Trump's decision to eliminate DACA is the wrong approach to immigration policy at a time when both sides of the aisle need to come together to reform our broken immigration system and secure the border."

Trump gave Congress six months to consider legislation on the issue before undocumented immigrants, collectively known as Dreamers, could face deportation. He called it a "window of opportunity" and in a Twitter comment told Congress to "get ready to do your job - DACA!"

Trump agonized over ending the program, and just last week said, "We love the Dreamers." But he has taken a tough stance on illegal immigration and is continuing to press for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart more migrants from entering the United States.

Charles Schumer, leader of the minority Democratic bloc in the Senate, voiced pointed objection to Trump's decision and said Democrats "will do everything we can to prevent President Trump's terribly wrong order from becoming reality.

“Most Americans know how heartless the DACA decision is, ripping apart families and telling people who have worked hard to become Americans for years that they have to leave the country," Schumer said. "But we often forget how vital these hardworking people and their contributions are to our economy and to tens of thousands of businesses who will be hurt if the administration's order stands."

Whether Congress will pass legislation to protect the young immigrants from deportation is uncertain. Immigration policies remain a contentious political issue and Congress has repeatedly failed to enact changes.

After Trump's decision, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi quickly sent out a fundraising pitch to Democratic supporters, calling the decision “quite possibly the cruelest thing President Trump has ever done.”

Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, called the decision "inhumane, cruel and shameful. Congress must now act immediately to pass the Dream Act without any partisan, divisive amendments to permanently protect these young people.”

Business leaders also weighed in with support for protective legislation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said individuals "enrolled in good faith" in the Obama program and "became ingrained in our communities and the nation’s economy. To reverse course now and deport these individuals is contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country."

The business lobby said "terminating their employment eligibility runs contrary to the president’s goal of growing the U.S. economy."

One of the country's most prominent business figures, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerburg, said, "This is a sad day for our country. The decision to end DACA is not just wrong. It is particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it... It's time for Congress to act to pass the bipartisan Dream Act or another legislative solution that gives Dreamers a pathway to citizenship."

JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon, chairman of the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives of the country's largest companies, said, "When people come here to learn, work hard and give back to their communities, we should allow them to stay in the United States."</s>NEW YORK — Technology companies and executives of other industries criticized the Trump administration for its plan to undo protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and called on Congress to help them.

President Donald Trump said he will dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, an Obama-era initiative that allowed young people who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children to work legally in the U.S., shielding them from deportation. Winding down the program could put the immigrants at risk of being sent back to the countries of their birth. The administration says Congress has six months to come up with a fix.

Tech companies have pushed back against efforts to curb immigration, which they see as vital to their industry. Immigrants make up about one-quarter of the U.S. technology and science workforce, and many in Silicon Valley feel a personal connection to the issue.

On Tuesday, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, said in a blog post that Congress should “move quickly with new legislation to protect these 800,000 Dreamers,” using a popular term for the young immigrants. Notably, Smith explicitly urged that immigration legislation take precedence over tax reform, another big legislative priority for corporate America.

Microsoft will also help affected employees with attorneys, amicus briefs and, when appropriate, direct legal intervention. “If Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side,” Smith wrote. He said there are 39 affected employees that the company knows of.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the decision “a sad day for our country” in a post , adding that it is “particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a note to employees that he was “deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans — including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers — may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they’ve ever called home.” He said Apple will work with Congress on legislation “that provides permanent protections for all the Dreamers in our country” and that the company will support employees in need.

Uber’s chief technology officer, Thuan Pham, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Vietnam, wrote in an online post that the ride-hailing company will “stand by immigrants who want nothing more than to contribute to our country and pursue the American Dream.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that “Dreamers are our neighbours, our friends and our co-workers. This is their home. Congress needs to act now to #DefendDACA. #WithDreamers.”

IBM posted a series of tweets supporting legislation to let the young immigrants stay in the U.S. and said that “we stand by our IBM #Dreamers.”

Other industries also slammed President Trump’s actions Tuesday. Randy Falco, CEO of the company that owns Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, said in a statement that he was “disappointed, to say the least,” in the administration’s actions Tuesday and that Congress must “fix this mess.”

Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, also urged Congress to act and said the young immigrants “are integral to the economy, culture and spirit of our nation.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted that “Congress must act fast to protect” the young immigrants.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs spoke out against undoing DACA, tweeting , “I wouldn’t deport a kid who was brought here and only knows America. Congress must address.” Ford, in a statement, also pushed for legislation to protect the young immigrants. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. should support immigrants who come to “learn” and “work hard.”

A letter from the technology-industry lobbying group FWD.us last week asked the president to keep DACA and for Congress to replace it with permanent legislation. Names attached to the letter included the heads of Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, Facebook, General Motors, Google, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, Starbucks, Twitter, Visa, Wells Fargo and Warren Buffett.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business group, said undoing the protections and deporting the young immigrants was “contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country” and said the administration and Congress must find a legislative solution quickly.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — Technology companies and executives of other industries criticized the Trump administration for its plan to undo protections for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and called on Congress to help them.

President Donald Trump said he will dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, an Obama-era initiative that allowed young people who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children to work legally in the U.S., shielding them from deportation. Winding down the program could put the immigrants at risk of being sent back to the countries of their birth. The administration says Congress has six months to come up with a fix.

Tech companies have pushed back against efforts to curb immigration, which they see as vital to their industry. Immigrants make up about one-quarter of the U.S. technology and science workforce, and many in Silicon Valley feel a personal connection to the issue.

On Tuesday, Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, said in a blog post that Congress should "move quickly with new legislation to protect these 800,000 Dreamers," using a popular term for the young immigrants. Notably, Smith explicitly urged that immigration legislation take precedence over tax reform, another big legislative priority for corporate America.

Microsoft will also help affected employees with attorneys, amicus briefs and, when appropriate, direct legal intervention. "If Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side," Smith wrote. He said there are 39 affected employees that the company knows of.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the decision "a sad day for our country" in a post , adding that it is "particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it."

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a note to employees that he was "deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans — including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers — may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they've ever called home." He said Apple will work with Congress on legislation "that provides permanent protections for all the Dreamers in our country" and that the company will support employees in need.

Uber's chief technology officer, Thuan Pham, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Vietnam, wrote in an online post that the ride-hailing company will "stand by immigrants who want nothing more than to contribute to our country and pursue the American Dream."

Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that "Dreamers are our neighbors, our friends and our co-workers. This is their home. Congress needs to act now to #DefendDACA. #WithDreamers."

IBM posted a series of tweets supporting legislation to let the young immigrants stay in the U.S. and said that "we stand by our IBM #Dreamers."

Other industries also slammed President Trump's actions Tuesday. Randy Falco, CEO of the company that owns Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, said in a statement that he was "disappointed, to say the least," in the administration's actions Tuesday and that Congress must "fix this mess."

Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal, also urged Congress to act and said the young immigrants "are integral to the economy, culture and spirit of our nation."

Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted that "Congress must act fast to protect" the young immigrants.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs spoke out against undoing DACA, tweeting , "I wouldn't deport a kid who was brought here and only knows America. Congress must address." Ford, in a statement, also pushed for legislation to protect the young immigrants. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. should support immigrants who come to "learn" and "work hard."

A letter from the technology-industry lobbying group FWD.us last week asked the president to keep DACA and for Congress to replace it with permanent legislation. Names attached to the letter included the heads of Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, Facebook, General Motors, Google, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, Starbucks, Twitter, Visa, Wells Fargo and Warren Buffett.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business group, said undoing the protections and deporting the young immigrants was "contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country" and said the administration and Congress must find a legislative solution quickly.</s>Mark Zuckerberg is leveraging Facebook to protest President Donald Trump's repeal of DACA.

The CEO took to Facebook (FB, Tech30) Live for 45 minutes on Wednesday to stream a conversation in his home with three undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Zuckerberg repeated his earlier condemnation of Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which allowed recipients known as "Dreamers" to live, work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Congress now has six months to develop a legislative solution.

"To offer the American Dream to people, and then to take it away and punish people for trusting their government and coming out of the shadows ... is one of the most troubling things I think I've seen a long time in our country," he said.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, he called the move "particularly cruel."

Trump's Justice Department rescinded DACA on Tuesday, saying it amounted to constitutional overreach by the Obama administration, which implemented it.

Zuckerberg acknowledged the complexities of immigration policy, but said he believes DACA is "the most clear cut" of all immigration issues.

He then gave the Dreamers present time to share their individual stories.

Two -- Leezia Dhalla and Maria Praeli -- work for FWD.us, an immigration advocacy organization that Zuckerberg founded alongside other tech leaders. The third person featured, Tomas Evangelista, works at the California-based Latino Leadership Council.

Zuckerberg did not talk about any Facebook employees that may be affected or plans to support these individuals.

Facebook declined to comment about any Dreamers it employs.

Zuckerberg encouraged his millions of Facebook followers to have a sense of "urgency" and to petition Congress to take action.

"What I think really needs to happen is the majority of people need to say, 'Hey, this is not only something that I want to see happen, but is something that needs to happen now,'" he said. "Because if it doesn't happen, then people's lives are going to be put at risk."

He mentioned that Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) came out on Tuesday and said Congress should prioritize legislation to preserve DACA over tax reform, an issue around which the business community has been rallying.

Zuckerberg did not say specifically whether Facebook plans to lobby for the same approach, but said he recognized the need to make "trade offs."

"It would be just a massive setback -- both morally, socially and economically -- if we fail to deliver on this," he said.

Related: Dreamers are being forced to rethink their careers

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, showed her support for Zuckerberg and the Dreamers he spoke with in a comment.

"Leezia, Maria, and Tomas -- thank you for sharing your stories. Like everyone who's watching today, I'm so inspired by your courage and resilience. You represent the best of our country," she said.</s>Mark Zuckerberg is leveraging Facebook to protest President Donald Trump's repeal of DACA.

The CEO took to Facebook (FB, Tech30) Live for 45 minutes on Wednesday to stream a conversation in his home with three undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Zuckerberg repeated his earlier condemnation of Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which allowed recipients known as "Dreamers" to live, work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Congress now has six months to develop a legislative solution.

"To offer the American Dream to people, and then to take it away and punish people for trusting their government and coming out of the shadows ... is one of the most troubling things I think I've seen a long time in our country," he said.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, he called the move "particularly cruel."

Trump's Justice Department rescinded DACA on Tuesday, saying it amounted to constitutional overreach by the Obama administration, which implemented it.

Zuckerberg acknowledged the complexities of immigration policy, but said he believes DACA is "the most clear cut" of all immigration issues.

He then gave the Dreamers present time to share their individual stories.

Two -- Leezia Dhalla and Maria Praeli -- work for FWD.us, an immigration advocacy organization that Zuckerberg founded alongside other tech leaders. The third person featured, Tomas Evangelista, works at the California-based Latino Leadership Council.

Zuckerberg did not talk about any Facebook employees that may be affected or plans to support these individuals.

Facebook declined to comment about any Dreamers it employs.

Zuckerberg encouraged his millions of Facebook followers to have a sense of "urgency" and to petition Congress to take action.

"What I think really needs to happen is the majority of people need to say, 'Hey, this is not only something that I want to see happen, but is something that needs to happen now,'" he said. "Because if it doesn't happen, then people's lives are going to be put at risk."

He mentioned that Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) came out on Tuesday and said Congress should prioritize legislation to preserve DACA over tax reform, an issue around which the business community has been rallying.

Zuckerberg did not say specifically whether Facebook plans to lobby for the same approach, but said he recognized the need to make "trade offs."

"It would be just a massive setback -- both morally, socially and economically -- if we fail to deliver on this," he said.

Related: Dreamers are being forced to rethink their careers

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, showed her support for Zuckerberg and the Dreamers he spoke with in a comment.

"Leezia, Maria, and Tomas -- thank you for sharing your stories. Like everyone who's watching today, I'm so inspired by your courage and resilience. You represent the best of our country," she said.</s>The biggest names in business are urging President Trump and Congress to continue a program that protects undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.

The CEOs of AT&T (T, Tech30), Best Buy (BBY) and Wells Fargo (CBEAX) are among the dozens of business leaders across the tech, retail and financial industries who have added their names to a letter defending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

FWD.us, an immigration advocacy organization, first posted the letter on Thursday with the backing of more than 300 business leaders. That number has now climbed above 400.

"Dreamers are vital to the future of our companies and our economy. With them, we grow and create jobs," the letter says. "They are part of why we will continue to have a global competitive advantage."

The original group of backers included the CEOs of Amazon (AMZN, Tech30), Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Alphabet (GOOGL, Tech30). Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also a cofounder of FWD.us.

Related: These men and women will be out of work if Trump repeals DACA

"250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in post on Twitter Sunday. "They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values."

Trump is expected to end the program with a six-month delay to give Congress an opportunity to come up with a legislative solution.

It's just the latest clash between Trump and the business community.

Business leaders have condemned Trump's travel bans, the decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement and his recent remarks about white supremacists in Charlottesville.

Trump's two business councils fell apart after executives began resigning over his Charlottesville comments.</s>Business leaders across industries, from tech to agriculture, are appealing to Congress to protect nearly 800,000 undocumented workers from deportation as President Trump is expected on Tuesday to announce a plan to revoke their permission to work.

The Trump administration has indicated it would phase out the five-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allowed immigrants who have lived in the United States illegally since they were children to work without punishment.

[Trump is expected to phase out DACA program, although decision is not finalized]

Politico first reported Sunday night that Trump plans to rescind the program but delay enforcement for six months to give Congress time to pass legislation to replace the Obama-era provision.

“This is not the end of the story. Congress can act today,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of New American Economy in an interview Monday. “We have been gearing up for this big fight that we hope is coming.”

Robbins said the national business coalition, founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to advocate for immigration reform, will have more than 100 corporate and conservative leaders lined up in at least 15 states by Tuesday to begin pressuring Congress to act.

The lobbying will take the form of private meetings both in Washington and in members’ home districts, letters to member of Congress, newspaper op-eds and public events, Robbins said.

The renewed pressure on Congress comes on top of a petition that more than 400 business executives — from Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and other companies — have signed urging Trump and Congress to protect the “Dreamers,” 97 percent of whom are in school or in the workforce.

Over the weekend, executives from a diverse array of companies, including AT&T, Wells Fargo, Best Buy, Ikea and Kaiser Permanente, added their names to the letter.

[Hundreds of business leaders call on Trump to protect ‘dreamers’]

On Sunday, Apple chief executive Tim Cook tweeted: “250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them. They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values.”

At Microsoft, at least 27 employees — including software engineers, finance professionals and retail associates — are beneficiaries of DACA, Brad Smith, Microsoft president and chief legal officer, wrote in an earlier blog post. Ending the program, he said, would be a “step backwards for our entire nation.”

At least 72 percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies count DACA recipients among their employees, according to FWD.us, which organized the petition.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and other tech leaders co-founded FWD.us in 2013 to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

“We're also calling on Congress to finally pass the Dream Act or another permanent, legislative solution that Dreamers deserve,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post last week publicizing the petition. “These young people represent the future of our country and our economy.”

Since Trump took office in January, his administration has renewed the protected status of an estimated 200,000 DACA recipients. He plans to announce Tuesday that his administration would no longer renew the two-year permits -- although there remains a possibility that Trump could change his mind at the last minute.

Trump has publicly wrestled with what to do about the program, given that the vast majority of Americans, including his supporters, favor protecting Dreamers in some form.

While he promised during his campaign to end the deferred-action program on his first day of office because he said it was an unconstitutional abuse of executive authority, Trump on Friday told reporters in the Oval Office, “We love the Dreamers.”

His surrogates on Sunday made the argument that ending the DACA program would benefit American workers, even as some congressional Republicans advocated for legislation to keep it intact.

​Sen. James ​Lankford (R-Okla.) said in a statement​ Monday​, “Americans do not hold children legally accountable for the actions of their parents.”​

“The Legislative and Executive Branch should put aside passivity and partisanship and finally modernize our immigration laws,” Lankford said.

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said last week he would attempt to force action on a bill to protect Dreamers when Congress returns from August recess this week. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Congress is working on a legislative solution. Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have also urged their colleagues to take immediate action to protect the young undocumented immigrants.

“It is incredibly disappointing to use the potential deportation of Dreamers as a pawn to form immigration legislation, but I do think a deadline could force their hand in having to act,” Robbins said. “The second that it leaked that the president was leaning towards ending DACA, the dam opened.”

Business leaders and some economists pushed back on the idea that ending DACA would help American workers. Many American jobs depend on the work that Dreamers are doing, said David Bier, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

“If you take those DACA recipients away, you will end up with lower wages and fewer jobs for Americans, not more jobs,” Bier said. “Having more people contributing to the economy is the thing that ultimately allows for greater employment for more Americans.”

Employers would bear the cost of ending DACA, which Bier estimates at $6.3 billion because of worker turnover.

“Employers will have to fire all those people. It doesn’t seem to be much of a reprieve as they are waiting for Congress to act,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League in Yakima, Wash.

Gempler said he hopes the Trump administration will leave the work permits in place during the six-month window it is giving Congress to come up with a permanent fix.

Rescinding DACA would also have long-term economic consequences, Bier said, because taking away work authorizations would discourage young immigrants from seeking higher education. That would lead to decreased salaries, he said, which means the amount they pay in taxes will also go down.

FWD.us estimates that without DACA recipients in the workforce, the economy would lose $460.3 billion from the national gross domestic product and $24.6 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions.

“For a president who says he is all about economic growth and job creation, the issue with immigration isn’t just an emotional argument, it’s actually an economic one,” said Erika Lucas, founder and chief executive of StitchCrew, an Oklahoma City-based firm connecting tech companies in the Midwest with venture capital investors. “He doesn’t understand that this is an economic situation impacting a lot of his constituents.”

That will be the focus of the business community’s pitch to Congress as it considers immigration legislation, she said. Lucas said the economic impact of rescinding DACA would be felt across industries in all geographic regions of the country.

Without DACA, she said, “what we’re doing is going further down the path of creating this shadow economy.”</s>Mark Zuckerberg is leveraging Facebook to protest President Donald Trump's repeal of DACA.

The CEO took to Facebook (FB, Tech30) Live for 45 minutes on Wednesday to stream a conversation in his home with three undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Zuckerberg repeated his earlier condemnation of Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which allowed recipients known as "Dreamers" to live, work and study in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Congress now has six months to develop a legislative solution.

"To offer the American Dream to people, and then to take it away and punish people for trusting their government and coming out of the shadows ... is one of the most troubling things I think I've seen a long time in our country," he said.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, he called the move "particularly cruel."

Trump's Justice Department rescinded DACA on Tuesday, saying it amounted to constitutional overreach by the Obama administration, which implemented it.

Zuckerberg acknowledged the complexities of immigration policy, but said he believes DACA is "the most clear cut" of all immigration issues.

He then gave the Dreamers present time to share their individual stories.

Two -- Leezia Dhalla and Maria Praeli -- work for FWD.us, an immigration advocacy organization that Zuckerberg founded alongside other tech leaders. The third person featured, Tomas Evangelista, works at the California-based Latino Leadership Council.

Zuckerberg did not talk about any Facebook employees that may be affected or plans to support these individuals.

Facebook declined to comment about any Dreamers it employs.

Zuckerberg encouraged his millions of Facebook followers to have a sense of "urgency" and to petition Congress to take action.

"What I think really needs to happen is the majority of people need to say, 'Hey, this is not only something that I want to see happen, but is something that needs to happen now,'" he said. "Because if it doesn't happen, then people's lives are going to be put at risk."

He mentioned that Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) came out on Tuesday and said Congress should prioritize legislation to preserve DACA over tax reform, an issue around which the business community has been rallying.

Zuckerberg did not say specifically whether Facebook plans to lobby for the same approach, but said he recognized the need to make "trade offs."

"It would be just a massive setback -- both morally, socially and economically -- if we fail to deliver on this," he said.

Related: Dreamers are being forced to rethink their careers

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, showed her support for Zuckerberg and the Dreamers he spoke with in a comment.

"Leezia, Maria, and Tomas -- thank you for sharing your stories. Like everyone who's watching today, I'm so inspired by your courage and resilience. You represent the best of our country," she said.</s>The stinging statements are the latest sign that executives from top U.S. companies are rethinking their cautious engagement with President Donald Trump. | Evan Vucci/AP DACA move deepens CEO split with Trump

President Donald Trump's decision to end the Dreamers program is inflaming his rift with America's corporate leaders — a group he once touted as a key ally for his business-friendly administration.

Within minutes of the administration's announcement that it will revoke protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, a slew of top CEOs and business groups slammed the move — warning of the human toll and its impact on the nation's economy.

Story Continued Below

"This is a sad day for our country. The decision to end DACA is not just wrong," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote. "It is particularly cruel to offer young people the American Dream, encourage them to come out of the shadows and trust our government, and then punish them for it."

“We should do everything in our power to continue to attract the best and brightest because they make us stronger as a people and as an economy," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said. "And, when people come here to learn, work hard and give back to their communities, we should allow them to stay in the United States."

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The stinging statements are the latest sign that executives from top U.S. companies are rethinking their cautious engagement with Trump, who has promised deregulation policies favorable to business but has grown increasingly toxic on other issues that matter greatly to CEOs and their employees. And it complicates their relationship just as both sides need each other to push for their biggest shared goal: lowering corporate taxes.

Trump began meeting with executives at Trump Tower in New York in the weeks leading up to his inauguration, talking up how his administration would be favorable to corporate America. After one-on-one meetings and industry roundtables with the then-president-elect, many business leaders expressed optimism that Trump, despite his unpredictable leadership style, would be good for the economy.

That continued into the early days of his administration as Trump again assembled CEOs, this time at the White House. He established two business advisory councils — one on manufacturing and another on policy — to solicit direct input from the heads of IBM, Pepsi, General Electric and many others from America’s biggest corporations.

But a series of political and policy decisions have damaged their relationship. After Trump's reaction to racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month, in which he put equal blame on white supremacists and counter-protesters, so many CEOs fled the business advisory councils that the president decided to fold them altogether. He also angered many business leaders in June after withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, putting U.S. environmental policy at odds with nearly every other country.

The DACA cancellation is unique in that it runs contrary to many companies' stated values of economic opportunity and entrepreneurship and has the potential to directly affect some of their own employees. Apple CEO Tim Cook, for example, has said his company has 250 employees who are authorized to work under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"Individuals enrolled in good faith and became ingrained in our communities and the nation’s economy," said Neil Bradley, chief policy officer of the the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "To reverse course now and deport these individuals is contrary to fundamental American principles and the best interests of our country."

General Motors said it "stands with the Dreamers we employ and the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers employed by multiple companies across the U.S.," adding, "Protecting American companies’ access to talented workers from outside of the U.S. is an important component for our global competitiveness and our success in the U.S."

As CEOs have exhausted the limits of their influence with Trump and the distance they can keep from his policy pronouncements, many are turning their attention to the Republican-controlled Congress. That's especially true on DACA, where Trump gave lawmakers six months to craft a legislative solution before the program is shuttered.

Many executives urged people to contact their members of Congress, with Zuckerberg saying, "No bill is perfect, but inaction now is unacceptable." Microsoft said Tuesday that Congress should make passing legislation to protect Dreamers its top priority — even above tax reform.

"We say this even though Microsoft, like many other companies, cares greatly about modernizing the tax system and making it fairer and more competitive. But we need to put the humanitarian needs of these 800,000 people on the legislative calendar before a tax bill," Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.

Hotel chain Marriott called on lawmakers to "urgently pass the DREAM Act or other legislation to provide the certainty and permanent solution that DACA individuals deserve to remain valuable contributors to our society and economy."

The pressure on Congress to act comes as lawmakers grapple with the debt ceiling, federal budget, hurricane relief and tax reform. That's a heavy legislative agenda to tackle between now and the end of the year, even before DACA was added to the list. Adding to the uncertainty, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that Trump won’t settle for “just a one-piece fix” on immigration reform, suggesting the president would refuse to sign a standalone bill on DACA.

Immigration is a particularly urgent topic for the tech industry, which has long pushed to expand visa programs for immigrants with in-demand technical skills. Many of Silicon Valley's biggest players have at least one immigrant co-founder, and rely on men and women born overseas to fill their engineering and research ranks.

New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, whose family fled Iran as a child, dedicated his first tweet since officially assuming his new post Tuesday to condemn the DACA decision.

"It's against our values to turn our backs on #DREAMers," he tweeted. "Everyone deserves a chance to work, study and contribute — the #AmericanDream!"

Nolan McCaskill contributed to this report.
Business leaders from various U.S. companies, including Facebook, Marriott International, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft, lobby to members of Congress to work on a permanent solution for DREAMers to stay legally in the country, many of whom are their employees.