Signaling perhaps the strongest dissonance yet, toward the Trump Administration by a major telecom company, Comcast’s top regulatory executive, David L. Cohen, released a statement revealing his disappointment with the president’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“We are disappointed to learn of the termination of this program and the potential consequences for young people and the families who came out of the shadows and enrolled with the government in good faith for the opportunity to contribute their talents to the American economy,” said Cohen, Comcast’s senior executive VP and chief diversity officer, in a blog post published on Wednesday. “But we want to welcome the opportunity to embrace a permanent and lasting solution to the needs of this important immigrant population.”
Cohen added, “It is important to recognize the hard work and importance to our economy of the nearly 800,000 Dreamers. We have had the privilege to observe this first hand through our partnerships with many diversity groups.”
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration would “wind down” the DACA program—a decision that drew swift rebuke from a number of top CEOs, including Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella
But Cohen’s remarks stood out amid a telecom industry that has, up until now, largely cozied up to the administration.
Speaking to investors in January, for example, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson remarked how “impressed” he was with Trump, while detailing a possible windfall from corporate tax breaks.
And in March, Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge took an Oval Office photo with the president, allowing Trump to take credit for a call-center repatriotization plan that had already been in the works before the president was elected.