Apple, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, and Uber are missing from a group of 58 tech companies now signed onto an amicus brief protesting President Donald Trump’s travel delay executive order on immigration.
Lyft, Airbnb, and Dropbox are among the 58 companies that have filed an amicus brief in support of the Hawaii lawsuit challenging Trump’s revised travel order, according to the Verge. That’s down from 97 tech companies that signed onto an amicus brief last month to challenge Trump’s original executive order restricting travel from seven countries that had been determined under the Obama Administration as harbors of terrorism.
On March 6, President Trump signed a revised executive order entitled, “Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.” The order replaced a prior order signed in late January which had been halted in the court system by way of a temporary restraining order. The revised order temporarily restricted travel from a reduced six countries.
Last Wednesday a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii halted implementation of the new order, according to NPR. Watson claimed that the state of Hawaii was likely to succeed in its challenge of the order based on claims of religious discrimination and injury to businesses, universities, and tourism in the state. The state argued that imam Ismail Elshikh’s mother-in-law in Syria would be barred from entering the U.S. The mother-in-law has not visited the U.S. in 12 years, according to Byron York’s column in the Washington Examiner.
“Since the dawn of the digital age and the proliferation of the Internet, the amici technology companies and thousands of other businesses throughout the American economy have prospered and grown through the hard work, innovation, and genius of immigrants and refugees,” begins the Background section of the brief. The brief goes on to state, “Never in modern American history has that infusion of talent and passion and creativity been stanched, as it is vital to the lifeblood of our economy. Never, until now.”
The Hawaii ruling was followed within hours by a court ruling in Maryland against the EO. The Justice Department has already stated that it will challenge the Maryland ruling, according to CNBC. Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan each used the federal powers granted the President to control immigration in certain instances.
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