Starbucks is hiring 10,000 refugees – starting with interpreters for US troops

Executive orders to bar the entry of refugees from several Middle Eastern nations caused quite a stir over the weekend. The order restricts immigration from seven countries, suspends all refugee admission for 120 days, and bans all Syrian refugees indefinitely.

A few prominent corporate brands got creamed when their responses to the ban didn't meet the expectations of the outraged protesters who poured into airport terminals all over the country. Others accidentally tapped the anger of the social media conservatives. One of the latter is the coffee giant Starbucks.

Related: A brief history of coffee in the US military

Anger at Starbucks Coffee boiled over when CEO Howard Schultz announced they would hire 10,000 refugees in countries where the company operates. Schultz sweetened the deal by adding that their first priority would be to hire those refugees who served as interpreters for American troops on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations," Schultz wrote in a company-wide letter to the coffee chain's employees. "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. And we will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support."

Conservatives on Twitter and Facebook accuse the company of being steeped in liberal ideology. This isn't the first time Starbucks found itself in hot water with the #TCOT. Starbuck's holiday cup designs drew ire in 2015 on the grounds that it filtered out typical Christmas imagery (like snowflakes and snowmen) in its design.

The next year, Starbuck released green cups to promote unity during a divisive 2016 election season. The company was accusing of liberal brainwashing. Each time a half-hearted boycott movement percolated around the brand on social media but didn't reflect in the stores' sales.

The chain's dedication to hiring refugees who served with U.S. troops is consistent with the brand's dedication to hiring American military veterans and assisting in the transition of military personnel into civilian life. The company dedicated its Starbucks College Achievement Plan to allow employee veterans (and their spouses) to earn a bachelor's degree at Arizona State University online with full tuition reimbursement.