Thread by @ylecun

I'm an immigrant.

I came first to work at Bell Labs on a J-1 visa, because I thought I'd stay only a year or two.
But I stayed longer and got an H1-B visa.
Then I got a green card....
1/N

nytimes.com/2020/06/22/us/…

I hesitated to take up citizenship during the GW Bush years, waiting for the country to become respectable again.
But after Bush's re-election, I just wanted to be able to vote and kick out the neocon bastards.
So I became a citizen just in time to vote for Barack Obama.
2/N

As an immigrant, scientist, academic, liberal, atheist, and Frenchman, I am a concentrate of everything the American Right hates.
3/N

Now....

I have personally co-created and managed academic institutes, industrial labs, and startups that employ hundreds of people.

My research work has contributed to creating a whole new industry.
4/N

If Trump's insane executive order persists, American science and technology will be completely devastated.

This is pure suicide. As I wrote in a previous FB post, this will set a new record in the history of Shooting Yourself in the Foot.
5/N

Among the 26 PhD students I have advised, only 5 were US citizens.
Among the 13 postdocs who have worked with me at NYU, only 1 was a US citizen.
Among the 122 co-authors of my papers listed on my Google Scholar page, 22 were born American.
6/N

I feel that I must point out that:
- Facebook AI Research has labs in Paris, Montréal, London and Tel Aviv.
- NYU has full-fledged campuses in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.
7/N

Even if the executive orders does not concern university employees, it has not been exactly easy for students and postdocs from certain countries to obtain visas lately (including China, Iran, and numerous Middle East and African countries).
8/N
N=8.