P/C CEO Tweets on Immigration Policy: “This Is Wrong”

June 24, 2018

Americans who took to social media to protest the treatment of the children of U.S. border-crossing immigrants included a prominent property/casualty insurance company chief executive.

Joining a handful of P/C CEOs who have spoken out against immigration policies of the Trump administration, and a growing number who are using social media to weigh in on a range of national issues, State Auto’s Michael LaRocco shared these thoughts with his Twitter followers last week:

How as Americans can we tolerate the separation of children from their parents in the name of immigration policy? Our actions are immoral and inhumane. And we are making this about politics? For heavens sake, Americans do not behave like this. This is wrong. #KeepFamilesTogether

— Mike LaRocco (@LaRoccoME) June 20, 2018

LaRocco’s tweet came a day before President Trump signed an executive order to reverse the policy that moved the CEO and other Americans to bind their message together with the #KeepFamiliesTogether hashtag.

While Carrier Management did not immediately find other P/C insurance industry CEOs taking up the cause, a series of articles we’ve published in recent years reveal that industry executives have been willing to engage in public dialogue in spite of repercussions airing their views might have with customers and employees.

On immigration policy, both Evan Greenberg of Chubb and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett took issue with immigration reform. Greenberg, referring to President Trump’s signing of an executive order in late January 2017 designed to prevent some immigration from Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Iraq and Libya for about 90 days, had this to say during a fourth-quarter 2016 earnings call:

“We’re a country of immigrants. Our country’s openness to immigration is fundamental to our identity and history as a nation, and vital to our future prosperity,” Greenberg said. “I am 100 percent for the security of our citizens, but at the same time, America is the land of the free, and we are a beacon and place of refuge for those seeking a better and safer life for themselves and their families.

“Shutting our doors to immigration is a mistake.”

One of Buffett’s most recent references to the ambitious immigrants that built the nation appeared in Berkshire’s 2016 letter to shareholders in the annual report.

For more information on CEOs taking on social and political issues, including the Charlottesville riots, see related CM article, “When to Stand Up.”