Corporate Coalition Aids Hiring of Foreigners

There is a little-known job-placement program called Welcome.US that fast-tracks foreigners for jobs (to the detriment of U.S. citizens). Participants include America’s biggest companies — Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Cisco, Salesforce, Uber, Verizon, T-Mobile, Walmart, Target, Starbucks, IKEA, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss, Chobani, Marriott International, Hilton, Hyatt, Chipotle, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, FedEx, UPS, DHL, Accenture, Deloitte, and more.

Welcome.US Setup

Welcome.US, a nonprofit initiative, was launched in September 2021 amid the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghan contractors. Its stated goal was to mobilize nonprofits, faith groups, veterans organizations, and major corporations to support the resettlement and integration of refugees and “newcomers” seeking safety in the United States. 

Then came the tsunami of illegal immigration touched off by Joe Biden’s administration. Waves of foreign laborers who had nothing to do with the Afghanistan War were suddenly (and falsely) listed as “refugees.”

Welcome.US continued operations , leapfrogging these new waves of migrants over U.S. citizens for jobs. It was initially co-chaired by Cecilia Muñoz (former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama) and John Bridgeland (who held a similar role under President George W. Bush). Its founding CEO is Nazanin Ash, an Iranian-American former State Department official who previously served in roles under both Republican and Democratic administrations, including on the policy-planning staffs of Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Welcome.US currently operates as a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 

Prioritizing Foreigners Over Americans

A core component of Welcome.US involves corporate partnerships, and the program works closely with the Tent Partnership for Refugees (founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya) and maintains a CEO council that has included leaders from companies such as Amazon, Google/Alphabet, Accenture, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook), Uber, Walmart, Target, Starbucks, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, FedEx, UPS, Deloitte, and many others. These firms have pledged jobs, training, mentorship, goods, services, and funding. Related Tent coalitions have announced commitments to hire thousands of “refugees,” with specific pledges such as Amazon aiming for at least 5,000 hires over multi-year periods. 

Welcome.US has promoted tools including an Employment Exchange listing tens of thousands of open positions, citizenship training resources, and volunteer sponsorship pathways. The organization reports mobilizing millions of Americans as “Welcomers,” facilitating private sponsorship, and supporting the integration of hundreds of thousands of newcomers through jobs, housing assistance, and community support. 

Critics frame the effort as a coordinated pipeline that prioritizes foreigners (masked as “refugees”) for employment at major U.S. companies, and argue that it reflects elite bipartisan consensus favoring corporate access to international labor pools over American workers’ interests.

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