Tech Firms Including Apple, Google Fight Immigration Order

By Greg Bensinger 

A group of nearly 100 technology companies including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google are banding together to fight the Trump administration's controversial travel ban.

In a joint amicus brief filed in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday, the firms challenged President Donald Trump's executive order which temporarily restricts citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. The administration says the ban is required to keep terrorists out.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco is reviewing an appeal by the administration after a federal judge in Seattle put a temporary hold on the restrictions late last week. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump criticized U.S. District Judge James Robart's ruling to issue a restraining order against enforcement of the travel ban.

The companies, which include Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., eBay Inc., Intel Corp. and Uber Technologies Inc., among others, charge the executive order violates the Constitution, is discriminatory and hinders their ability to recruit talent.

"The order inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth," the companies state, according to a copy of the brief reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "The order effects a sudden shift in the rules governing entry into the United States, and is inflicting substantial harm on U.S. companies."

The brief is the latest salvo in a simmering standoff between Silicon Valley technology companies and the Trump administration, still in its first month. Under pressure from customers and employees, Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick last week stepped down from a business leader advisory committee to the president, and the heads of Apple and Alphabet have openly criticized the president.

Write to Greg Bensinger at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2017 03:38 ET (08:38 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.