Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft file brief opposing travel ban

The technology industry showed a mostly united front Sunday as it stepped up its confrontation with the Trump administration over immigration policies. In a legal brief filed late Sunday evening, 97 companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Salesforce, Twitter and others stated their opposition to the administration’s controversial travel ban on immigrants. The brief was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to rule within a few days on an appeal by the administration after a federal judge in Seattle issued late Friday a temporary restraining order putting the travel ban on hold. Oracle CEO Safra Catz has been a more vocal supporter of the Trump administration among tech leaders, joining his transition team and vowing that “We are with him and will help in any way we can.” The filing says that the travel ban, which barred individuals from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for at least 90 days and suspended the U.S. refugee program, is was in violation of U.S. “immigration laws and the Constitution,” and would would inflict “significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth.” “The instability and uncertainty [caused by the executive order] will make it far more difficult and expensive for U.S. companies to hire the world’s best talent — and impede them from competing in the global marketplace,” it says. The brief calls the order “unlawful” and concludes by urging the court to deny the government’s motion, a move that would keep in place the Washington court’s nationwide restraining order preventing enforcement of the travel ban. An estimated 37 percent of the workforce in Silicon Valley is foreign born, according to the think tank Joint Venture.