Silicon Valley was one of the strong opponents of US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban over the weekend, speaking out publicly against the move as well as offering to finance legal aid for employees.
Many US industries stayed remarkably silent in the face of Trump’s move, which left many refugees and visitors from the seven Muslim-majority countries affected stranded in US airports and sparked global outrage.
Silicon Valley benefit strongly from skilled immigration from many of the countries affected by Donald Trump’s plan, and stand to lose significantly if the ban continues. Uber head Travis Kalanick said that Uber would create a $3 million fund to help drivers facing immigration issues, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin joining protesters at the airport.
Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey also said the repercussions were “real and upsetting”, with Apple chief executive Tim Cook telling staff openly that the order was “not a policy we support”.
Trump ordered a temporary ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries over the weekend, alongside a 120-day refugee resettlement. In a statement on Facebook over his ‘Executive Order Concerning Extreme Vetting’, Trump said:
“America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border. America has always been the land of the free and home of the brave.
“The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror. To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting.”
Eric Talley, a corporate law professor at Columbia Law School told Reuters the tech sector’s response was “as forceful as it possibly can be.”
“One of the difficult aspects of reaction to the Trump administration in its first couple of weeks is trying to balance the interest of expressing legitimate concern … against the potential cost of being out too far ahead of everyone else,” he added.