Sharon Chajon, whose husband is a detained immigrant, cries while people participate in a protest against recent U.S. immigration policy of separating children from their families when they enter the United States as undocumented immigrants, in front of a Homeland Security facility in Elizabeth, NJ, U.S., June 17, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. tech giant Microsoft tried to distance itself from the immigration authorities amid criticism that the company's cloud service is playing a role in enforcing the government's controversial decision to separate illegal immigrants from their children.

"As a company, Microsoft is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border," Microsoft said in a statement Monday.

Family unification has been a fundamental tenet of American policy and law since the end of World War II, it said.

The tech giant denied that it has been working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or U.S. Customs and Border Protection on any project separating children from their families at the border.

The company said it is not aware of its Azure cloud service being used for the purpose of family separation.

"As a company Microsoft has worked for over 20 years to combine technology with the rule of law to ensure that children who are refugees and immigrants can remain with their parents," it said.

It urged the administration to change its policy and called on Congress to pass legislation ensuring that children are no longer separated from their families.

The Trump administration's campaign to crack down on illegal immigration has led to children being forcibly separated from their parents, sparking outrage across the nation in the past few days.

Microsoft faced criticism for its work with the ICE this weekend after a blog post described the tech giant's working relationship with the ICE to enforce immigration laws.