The American cafe chain Starbucks has faced hefty criticism since it last Sunday declared that the company will employ 10,000 refugees in protest against President Donald Trump's immigration ban.
"There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business," wrote Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz in a statement Sunday.
During the US election campaign, Schultz campaigned for Hillary Clinton, and now that Trump instead has been sworn in to the office, he supports those who want to fight the new government policy.
But the news has attracted unusually strong protests, reports Reuters. Thousands of tweets are tagged with #BoycottStarbucks in a call to boycott the coffee shop chain. The call has reached out to millions of tweeters.
The protesters also come from very different political camps. African Americans, for example, are raging against Starbucks' investment in new immigrants instead of doing something about unemployment among the black population. Others think that Starbucks should focus on offering jobs to former servicemen instead of refugees, which the café giant talked about doing a few years ago.
Black Rifle Coffee Company, a smaller new contender founded by Evan Hafer, a veteran of the Iraq war, took the opportunity to take advantage of the protests. He now promises to hire 10,000 veterans, reports Fox News, in response to Starbucks politically correct belly flop.
Howard Schultz has responded to the criticism with that the company has hired thousands of veterans in recent years, writes Business Insider. Many left-wing activists also say they intend to support Starbucks after the company's decision to hire new immigrants. So good luck dining with Antifa.
