Tech industry applauds US court ruling on immigration order
The court decision Thursday to uphold a nationwide halt to President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration delivers a victory to hundreds of companies that have publicly opposed the order – and could empower them to keep fighting the administration.
Nearly 130 companies, most from the tech industry, had taken a public stand against the president's order by submitting a joint legal filing late Sunday that argued the policy is unconstitutional and hurts their businesses. Alphabet, Inc.'s Google and Facebook, Inc. led the charge by helping to gather other companies' support for the brief, according to people familiar with the matter.
On Thursday, three judges with the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the immigration order should not go into effect while it faces legal challenges.
"I don't think we deserve credit... but I'm happy we were able to provide some small amount of help," said Sam Altman, head of tech-startup incubator Y Combinator, which signed the brief. He said he ex- pects companies to continue to "oppose policies that are bad for our businesses and bad for our country."
Hundreds more companies and investors have spoken out against the order, which suspended entry to the US for visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries. President Donald Trump says the executive order on immigration and refugees is intended to improve national security by preventing terrorists from entry.
The appeals court ruling "reaffirms that when we mobilize – whether as companies, nonprofits or individuals – there are avenues for our values to be upheld," said Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, Inc., a cloud data-storage company, which also signed the brief.
Mr. Trump hasn't publicly reacted to the businesses' involvement in the legal fight. During the presidential campaign, he clashed with several tech firms and has singled out other companies since he won the election over issues includSANTIAGO ing their use of overseas factories.
Silicon Valley spearheaded the corporate dissent against the Jan. 27 order. Within two days of its signing, a wide swath of tech companies big and small began criticizing the order. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, for instance, attended a protest at San Francisco International Airport.
Companies in other industries also spoke out. The chief executives of Ford Motor Co., Coca-Cola Co., Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., General Electric Co. and Nike Inc. all publicly criticized the ban. On Tuesday, more than 150 biotechnology executives and investors published a letter against the ban, saying it threatens the US's medical-research industry. The letter said 52% of US biomedical researchers are foreign-born. And a variety of big firms across industries have discussed publishing a letter opposing the policy, though the status of that letter is unclear.