Fights Against Trump Travel Ban Leave Lawmakers, Tech Community Frustrated
​The technology industry is continuing to rail against the Trump administration's immigration executive orders, saying they would hurt their employees and businesses, after federal courts in Hawaii and Maryland rejected the orders (see 1702160059 and 1703100009). Fifty-eight companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox, Evernote, Glassdoor, Lyft, Pinterest, TripAdvisor and Wikimedia, filed an amici brief with the plaintiffs in the Hawaii case. They said "restrictions on travel through nationality- and religion-based discrimination causes substantial harm, including to U.S. businesses and their employees." The companies said the first travel ban harmed their businesses and "they are certain to lose more if the proposed new ban takes effect. ... By some reports, U.S. businesses are expected to lose $66 billion annually as a result of the travel ban, along with as many as 132,000 jobs.”
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Internet Association President Michael Beckerman and CTA President Gary Shapiro wrote in a Thursday opinion column for Morning Consult that the tech sector, which supports more than 15 million U.S. jobs and generates $413 billion in U.S. taxes annually, should try to work with President Donald Trump even when they disagree on things like immigration and trade. They said they’ll work with the administration but will fight it when it's wrong, pointing to the "discriminatory travel ban" and discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (see 1703060017). They said an immigration policy that attracts the best talent is needed. "By 2018, our country will face a shortfall of more than 223,000 workers in science, technology, engineering and math fields," they wrote.
Judge Theodore Chuang in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, enjoined the provision banning travel for citizens from the six countries Thursday. Wednesday, Judge Derrick Watson of the District of Hawaii granted a temporary restraining order against Trump's second order, which also faces another lawsuit from Washington and several other states.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., a critic of Trump's orders, told us Thursday: "We’ve heard from the high-tech business community, we’ve heard from the agriculture community ... My universities are saying this is a disaster, our applications for next year are way down for foreign students who are essentially subsidizing the tuition for domestic students and it's not making the country any safer from day one.”
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday the revised immigration order sounded as if it were more thoroughly vetted and addressed concerns that were raised about the initial ban. Thune said the tech community is really engaged in this discussion because of workforce needs that need to be met and any order needs to have a "lot of consideration and thought given to how this is implemented."