It is not often that a 29-year-old is able to speak with such strong impact, but then again most 29-year-olds are not billionaire tech giants either. You might not know it without knowledge of his face, as the trademark hoodie and sneakers may look ordinary to anyone unfamiliar with Mark Zuckerberg. Nonetheless, Zuckerberg, the CEO of the social media website Facebook, took advantage of the position in order to share his feelings on am important subject. The moment came at the premiere of an activist documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas named “Documented.”

Extra Motivation

In 2011 the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist outed himself as an undocumented immigrant, using the New York Times Magazine to spread his message. Since then he used “Documented” to encompass the move from the Philippines to America, then his expedition to become an activist for immigration reform, and finally attempts to reconnect with his mother that has been out of his life for over 20 years because of the journey. It seems quite likely that the movie further inspired Zuckerberg’s feelings on the topic and motivated him to speak out at a very appropriate time.

A Genuine Belief

As may be obvious by now, Zuckerberg is also a proud advocate for major immigration reform, taking a potentially controversial stance on a very hot topic. He stands strong behind his beliefs, stating his reasons as, “This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country and for us to do what’s right.” The CEO was quick to point out that he is not just focused on securing extra H1B visas to bring engineers and other high-tech workers to Silicon Valley for his company, but rather concerned with the topic on a more general level. While skeptics have long pointed out these potential self-serving interests within the tech region, Zuckerbberg is no stranger to the topic and seems to be quite genuine in his beliefs.

Do not think these were just words to improve his media persona, as they have been backed up by actions and hard work when Mark joined forces with Joe Green, his former roommate from Harvard University, to create a website and organization by the name of FWD.us. This organization was built to advocate helping immigrants on the path to citizenship. Despite the organization’s ambitious hopes to aid over 11 million immigrants that are already living in the U.S. illegally, this is the first time that Mark has made a public statement specifically about the issue.

The Initial Inspiration

Explaining his first introduction to the problem, Mark shared, “No matter where they were born, [these students] are going to be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and people creating jobs in this country.” He continued, “These are issues that don’t just touch our part of the industry, but really touch a whole country.” The experience came when Mark was volunteering as a teacher for an entrepreneurial class at a school located in Menlo Park. In the class many of his students had been brought to the U.S. illegally but were hoping to change their status.