Airbnb will offer free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the U.S. That’s according to the company’s cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky, who made the offer earlier today. “Not allowing countries or refugees into America is not right, and we must stand with those who are affected,” Chesky tweeted at 8:35 pm E.T. Saturday evening.
The company’s decision comes a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that temporarily bans refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries. Since the order was issued, 100 to 200 people have been detained in airports around the country, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The executive order, however, has been challenged by advocacy groups and hundreds protesting at major airports. Earlier in the evening on Saturday, in response to a complain filed by the ACLU, a federal judge in New York City granted an emergency stay to refugees and nationals of the listed countries already detained in the U.S.
Chesky, who cofounded Airbnb in 2008 and whose net worth FORBES estimates at $3.8 billion, was not the only billionaire criticizing President Trump’s recent executive order. “I’m here because I’m a refugee,” Google founder Sergey Brin said at San Francisco International Airport, where he joined protesters on Saturday. Brin came to the U.S. at age 6 after his family fled Russia due to concerns about anti-Semitism. He is now the richest foreign-born billionaire in the U.S.
Uber’s billionaire founder Travis Kalanick also criticized the order on Facebook earlier on Saturday. He announced that the company was working on a compensation plan for drivers who have gone back to their home countries to visit their families and cannot re-enter the United States. “This order has far broader implications as it also affects thousands of drivers who use Uber and come from the listed countries,” Kalanick said. The ride-hailing company’s cofounder, Garett Camp, is a Canadian national.
