Tech companies speak out against Trump’s immigration order

Almost 100 technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Google are speaking out against President Trump’s executive order barring refugees and people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

On Sunday night, 97 companies, also including Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter and Uber, filed a legal brief against the president’s order with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The amicus brief comes after the federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a Department of Justice request to restore the president’s travel ban.

{mosads}The court of appeals denied the department’s request for an emergency stay, pending full consideration of the motion.

Other companies involved in the new filing include Lyft, Pinterest, Yelp, Square, Reddit, Dropbox and Medium, according to the Post.

The filing calls the president’s executive order discriminatory.

“The Order represents a significant departure from the principles of fairness and predictability that have governed the immigration system of the United States for more than fifty years,” the brief said.

“The Order makes it more difficult and expensive for U.S. companies to recruit, hire, and retain some of the world’s best employees. It disrupts ongoing business operations. And it threatens companies’ ability to attract talent, business, and investment to the United States.”

The brief also says immigrants or their children founded “more than 200 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list,” noting that immigration and economic growth are “intimately tied.”

“The problems that render the Executive Order harmful to businesses and their employees also make it unlawful,” the companies said.

Noticeably absent from the list of companies were Oracle, Tesla and Amazon, though the latter two have publicly criticized the travel ban.

An Amazon spokesperson said Washington’s attorney general preferred that the company not join the amicus brief because the company is part of the original lawsuit.  

Oracle CEO Safra Catz served on Trump’s transition team. 

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk serves on Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum and has defended himself against criticism for staying on as an adviser.

“Activists should be pushing for more moderates to advise President, not fewer. How could having only extremists advise him possibly be good?” Musk tweeted on Sunday. 

The brief ends a honeymoon period between Trump and the tech industry. After criticizing him on the campaign trail, leaders had expressed openness toward working with the new administration.

—Updated at 2:07 p.m. Ali Breland contributed.