LinkedIn co-founder urges tech leaders to denounce Trump

Reid Hoffman, centre, the founder of LinkedIn, and company executives celebrate the listing of LinkedIn, Thursday, May 19, 2011 on the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

WASHINGTON -- LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman said on Thursday that more tech leaders should “speak out” against Donald Trump’s administration, after two American citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Hoffman is the latest in a string of Silicon Valley figures to criticize the U.S. president on his sweeping immigration crackdown in the city.

The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti sparked widespread outrage that has sent the White House scrambling to damage control its reputation.

Hoffman wrote that “Silicon Valley leaders have divested themselves of the responsibility to speak out against the (Trump) administration’s excesses,” in an opinion piece in The San Francisco Standard.

“We... can’t bend the knee to Trump. We can’t shrink away and just hope the crisis will fade,” Hoffman added.

Billionaire Democratic donor Hoffman is not the first to criticize Trump on his immigration operation in the Minnesota city.

Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean said last week that the footage of Pretti’s killing was “absolutely shameful,” while venture capitalists Vinod Khosla and Paul Graham have also condemned the shootings.

AFP