NEWS
97 Tech Companies Come Together to Challenge Trump’s Immigration Ban
AD
Apple, Google, and Facebook are among the 97 companies filing joint court papers to challenge Trump’s travel ban.
Published on February 6, 2017

It’s been less than a month since Donald Trump took office, and the country is already in a constitutional tailspin. His controversial executive order banning immigrants from seven Middle Eastern countries has caused uproar across the country, and has pitted the executive and judicial branches against each other.

This weekend, 97 US tech companies rose to the defense of the Middle Eastern immigrants impacted by Trump's travel ban. Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and others filed court papers in support of challenging the executive order. These companies have banded together to help defeat the Muslim ban, claiming that it “has had immediate, adverse effects on the employees of American businesses.”

 

"Immigrants are innovators. Since 2000, more than one-third of all American Nobel prize winners in Chemistry, Medicine, and Physics have been immigrants,” the filing states.

 

Outside of being discriminatory and possibly unconstitutional, the filing also stresses the adverse impact that this ban will have on the tech industry. These companies could face immense hurdles with international recruitment and global business planning. The countries covered by the ban are Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, but the court filing warns that the executive order's vague language could allow it to be applied to immigrants from other countries as well. 

The most interesting name to grace this extensive anti-immigration ban list is Uber. Initially a part of Trump’s business advisory council, CEO Travis Kalanick was pressured to drop out last week after a nationwide boycott of Uber started gaining traction. Other major names on the court filing include AirBnB, Netflix, Paypal, Spotify, Twitter, and many others.   

and the Department of Justice have been fighting to have the ban reinstated, but the overwhelming support from the tech sector will make their unjust goal more difficult to obtain. 

In addition to the filing by the 97 tech companies, former Secretary of State John Kerry, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, and eight other former U.S. diplomatic and security services leaders have also submitted a court filing against the ban.

All in all, it’s quite apparent that Trump’s immigration ban has repercussions that will impact all of us, regardless of race or ethnicity. As anti-immigration ban protests continue to rage on across the US, these 97 companies have made it clear what side they stand on.  

NEWS
WORLD
BUSINESS
POLITICS
MORE...
Tyler Koslow
FOLLOW
Tyler Koslow is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer with an intensive focus on technology, music, pop culture, and of course, cannabis and its impending legalization.
Share this article with your friends!
AD
By using our site you agree to our use of cookies to deliver a better experience.
Accept
Decline
MORE FROM MERRY JANE