White House officials discuss refugee crisis with CEOs of US companies

Robert Besser
18 Sep 2023, 10 GMT+10

This week, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients met with the chief executives of various U.S. companies to discuss issues related to refugee resettlement and sponsorship programs
They also talked about ways of helping refugees gain employment and access transport, the White House said
The CEOs who attended the meeting included Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Walmart's Doug McMillon, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, and HP's Enrique Lores

WASHINGTON D.C. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has met with the chief executives of various U.S. companies to discuss issues related to refugee resettlement and sponsorship programs.

They also talked about ways of helping refugees gain employment and access transport, the White House said.

The CEOs who attended last week's meeting included Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Walmart's Doug McMillon, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, and HP's Enrique Lores.

Gap CEO Richard Dickson, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, Lyft Inc CEO David Risher, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert also attended, along with representatives from Airbnb, Goldman Sachs, Meta, and others.

After the meeting, the White House said in a statement that the officials and executives discussed the long-term needs of refugees.

"Today's meeting highlights the importance of public-private partnerships in building durable and scalable capacity to better respond to the global displacement crisis," the White House said.

In August, New York Governor Kathy Hochul met with Zients and other senior administration officials to discuss the surge of migrants coming to New York City, which has strained the city's resources.

Republicans have criticized Democrat President Biden for his policies on immigration. This issue is likely to feature prominently in the 2024 presidential campaign when he will likely face Republican former president Donald Trump.