Over 100 U.S. Tech Firms Team Up to Protest Trump’s Travel Ban

More than 100 U.S. tech companies have banded together to oppose President Trump’s temporary travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

In a legal brief, filed in support of lawsuits that seek to suspend the president’s executive order, the technology firms said the ban would ‘inflict significant harm’ on their business and curtail innovation.

The firms, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, and HP, have even warned that such a ban might ‘incentivize’ American firms to move jobs overseas.

“The Order makes it more difficult and expensive for U.S. companies to recruit, hire, and retain some of the world’s best employees,” they wrote. “It disrupts ongoing business operations and it threatens companies’ ability to attract talent, business, and investment to the United States.”

They have even expressed fear that the United States may end up embroiled in an unnecessary economic war if other nations retaliate with similar actions, adding that they might even find it difficult to do business or negotiate business deals abroad.

Ultimately, they said, the ban might impede them from competing in the global marketplace.

When they decided to file the legal document Sunday night, there were only 97 signatures, now the number of signatories has gone up to 127.

Tesla’s Elon Musk, who is one of the tech executives on Trump’s business advisory council, also signed onto the brief on Monday.

The President’s executive order, issued a week ago, banned visa and green card holders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

But a federal judge in Washington suspended the ban on Friday, with an appeal court agreeing to hear the case.

The tech firms call the ban ‘open-ended’ and unconstitutional, arguing that it does not ‘fit the goal’ of making the country more secure.