Couple uses Facebook to raise over $5M to reunite immigrant families | Tech News
A 2-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border on June 12 in McAllen, Texas.
John Moore/Getty Images
It turns out Facebook can help raise a lot of money when the cause is right.
Charlotte and Dave Willner set up a fundraiser on Facebook on Saturday to help reunite families affected by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” approach toward undocumented immigrants, USA Today reported Monday. Their original goal was to raise $1,500.
As of Tuesday, over $5 million has been raised from more than 109,000 contributors. It’s the largest single fundraiser to date using Facebook Fundraisers, and a company spokesman confirmed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg both made donations.
The couple, both former Facebook employees who now work at other tech companies, felt “revulsed” by the more than 2,000 children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border. The issue has also caught the attention of tech industry leaders. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that the company “is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border.” Airbnb’s co-founders also spoke out, saying in a statement on Twitter that the “US government needs to stop this injustice and reunite these families.” In January, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos donated $33 million to a scholarship fund for immigrants brought into the US illegally as children.
The funds raised in the Facebook campaign will benefit RAICES, a Texas nonprofit that provides free legal services to immigrants and refugees. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but said in a Facebook post that “thanks is inadequate for the work these funds will make possible. We know it will change lives.”
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CNET’s Marrian Zhou contributed to this report.
First published on June 18, 10:11 p.m. PT.
Updates, June 19, 8:54 a.m. PT: Adds Airbnb co-founders statement, Facebook spokesman confirmation and RAICES statement. And 10:17 p.m. PT: Adds more information about the fundraiser.
Correction, June 19 at 10:17 p.m. PT: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Charlotte and Dave Willner.
Update, June 19, 1:22 p.m. PT: Fundraising amount is now over $5 million.
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