'Un-American:' Protests and outrage as Trump's immigration ban causes chaos

A host of big-name tech companies including Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft have filed an amicus brief in a Washington state court opposing Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. A total of 97 firms put their names to the document, which supports the state of Washington in its battle against what is widely considered a Muslim ban, each one stating that their “operations are affected” by the executive order.

“The Order represents a significant departure from the principles of fairness and predictability that have governed the immigration system of the United States for more than fifty years,” the brief reads, indicating a philosophical objection from the signees. But they also present an economic argument, saying that the order also “inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth,” disrupting current operations, and making it “more difficult and expensive for US companies to recruit, hire, and retain some of the world’s best employees.”

An estimated 1,200 Comcast employees left their desks for a rally on Thursday afternoon, marching through downtown Philadelphia in protest of Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. “Love, not hate, is what makes this country great,” chanted the protesters, who began marching through Center City around 2PM ET. It was the second major corporate protest of the week, following a company-endorsed walkout at Google on Tuesday.

Employees organized the rally in a corporate Slack channel, sources told Philly news site Billy Penn. The rally appeared to be taking place in Comcast offices in Portland and Washington, DC, as well as Philadelphia and its West Chester suburb. The Philadelphia rally included a march from Comcast’s offices to City Hall a few blocks away. Protesters returned to their desks about 45 minutes later.

Microsoft has asked the Trump administration to set up a formal exemption process for its recent immigration ban. President and chief legal officer Brad Smith laid out the company’s request in an open letter, proposing what Microsoft calls an exemption for “responsible known travelers with pressing needs,” sponsored by a US company or university. It would allow visa holders from the seven countries affected by Trump’s ban to safely travel outside the US without fear of being denied reentry, on the understanding that they will travel for periods of less than two weeks for either business purposes or family emergencies.

Smith says that Microsoft’s request shouldn’t be considered a fix for the executive order, which a spokesperson previously called “misguided and a fundamental step backwards.” It framed the move as an immediate way to help foreign employees who have been stranded outside the country where they live and work, as well as those who cannot leave the US for fear they won’t be allowed back in. Microsoft says it has 76 employees with 41 dependents affected by the ban, some of which have been stranded apart from their children or unable to visit sick relatives abroad.

Mark Gainey, the co-founder and chief executive of fitness-tracking app Strava, has a message for immigrants who are impacted by President Donald Trump’s recent executive order: “Freedom4All.”

Only Gainey didn’t just send a memo to his company, or tweet something showing solidarity: he ran 6.8 miles through tech-centric Palo Alto and spelled out the words with his running route.

Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and the son of an undocumented US immigrant, says President Donald Trump's immigration ban is both "deeply un-American" and "potentially unconstitutional." Ohanian expressed his views in an open letter to the Reddit community penned under his long-time handle "kn0thing" and posted to the official Reddit blog.

The tech industry figure describes himself as not only the son of an undocumented German immigrant, but also "the great grandson of refugees who fled the Armenian Genocide." Ohanian says welcoming both groups — immigrants and refugees — is America's "unfair advantage," quoting a startup term for besting the competition. "Without them, there’s no me, and there’s no Reddit. We are Americans," he writes. "Let’s not forget that we’ve thrived as a nation because we’ve been a beacon for the courageous — the tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed."

More than 2,000 Google employees in offices around the world staged a walkout on Monday afternoon in protest of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration in seven Muslim-majority countries. Using the hashtag #GooglersUnite, employees tweeted photos and videos of walkout actions around the world, including at headquarters in Mountain View, California.

The protest came after employees donated more than $2 million to a crisis fund that will be distributed among nonprofit groups working to support refugees. Google match employees’ donation with $2 million. "This was in direct response to the immigration action," Enzam Hossain, an employee on the Mountain View campus, told The Verge. "We wanted to be a part of it, and support our colleagues who are facing it."

Following President Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, Silicon Valley has quickly responded with statements, feature updates, and donations to support human rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey criticized the policy via a tweet on Saturday — but today the company has added a “Proudly made in America by immigrants” tagline on the Periscope app’s loading screen.

“Periscope is built, maintained, and operated by people from many faiths and countries. Without immigrants and refugees, Periscope would not exist,” the team wrote in a blog post. “We feel this is an important statement to make about who we are and the real impact of these policies.”

As airports fell into chaos in the wake of Donald Trump’s executive order this weekend, border agents confronted targeted travelers with an unusual request: access to their social media accounts. In Houston, an immigration lawyer named Mana Yegani reported Border Patrol agents checking new arrival’s Facebook pages, alongside questions about political views and associations.

Four federal courts have now issued stays on the order, and the fight over its legality continues — but there’s reason to think scrutiny of arrivals’ Facebook and Twitter accounts will only intensify. On Sunday, multiple outlets reported that the Trump administration was discussing a requirement for all foreign visitors to share their social media and web activity with customs officials, or be denied entry if they refuse.

Presidential executive orders have come to the fore with the new Trump administration in the White House, which on Friday took the drastic step of banning incoming refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations in and around the Middle East. Google’s Doodle today reminds us of an earlier executive order, 9066, which was issued by President Franklin Roosevelt and had the effect of confining close to 120,000 US residents of Japanese descent to internment camps during World War II. It’s a dark period in US history, condemned by later presidents as an act of "wartime hysteria," and it’s commemorated in order to remind the country’s present leaders to not fall into similar traps of prejudice and bigotry. Better late than never, eh?

Fred Korematsu, the subject of the Google Doodle, would have been 98 years old today, having been born to Japanese parents in Oakland on January 30th, 1919. His name is attached to the 1944 Supreme Court case dealing with the validity of executive order 9066. The Supreme Court sided with the government in that case, but Korematsu’s contribution as a civil rights activist was ongoing and substantial enough to ultimately earn him a Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by Bill Clinton in 1998. Google helpfully points out that Fred Korematsu Day is celebrated in four US states: his native California, Hawaii, Virginia, and Florida.

After his failure to denounce President Trump’s immigration ban was met with a scorching #DeleteUber campaign, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick today vowed to set up a $3 million legal defense fund for affected drivers, in addition to other promises. He also stepped up his criticism of the ban, calling it “unjust.”

“At Uber we’ve always believed in standing up for what’s right,” Kalanick wrote on Facebook. “Today we need your help supporting drivers who may be impacted by the President's unjust immigration ban.”

Yesterday, Elon Musk responded to President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding an immigration ban, saying that it was “not the best way to address the country’s challenges.” Following up with a Tweet today, he urged his followers to read the order, and asked for specific amendments, saying that he would “seek advisory council consensus” and would present the recommendations to the president.

When someone suggested that the order be withdrawn, Musk agreed with a user who commented that the order would likely not be recalled, and that Musk was trying to make the most of the situation:

Last night, a Federal District court issued an emergency stay on deportations for passengers affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries. Since that first decision, three other courts have issued their own rulings, putting a halt to deportations for those detained at airports across the country.

Despite the rulings, there appears to be some uncertainty surrounding the judicial orders. The New York Post reports that some customs agents have ignored the orders, and have not allowed access to detainees. We’ll update this report as more information becomes available.

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively banning entry to the United States for citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries. The ban could have massive ramifications for science, and scientists — like computational biologist Samira Asgari, for example, who was stopped from boarding a flight in Frankfurt on Saturday morning. She was heading to Boston, and her new job at Harvard Medical School.

The executive order that Trump signed Friday night is ostensibly to “protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals” from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. Already, people traveling from these countries have been stopped from getting on US-bound flights. Some were detained at airports until a federal court ruled that their detainment was unlawful.

Following wide-spread protests over President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries yesterday, a number of prominent tech CEOs have offered responses ranging from strong to tepid. The founders of ride-share company Lyft have offered their response in the form of a million-dollar donation to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In an email from Lyft to users, and in a blog post, the company noted that the executive order is “antithetical to both Lyft’s and our nation’s core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.”

Amazon has advised employees from countries affected by President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban from seven majority-Muslim nations to avoid traveling outside the United States, and is working on “contingency plans” for those who are currently abroad, according to an email provided to The Verge.

Unlike some other major tech companies, Amazon has not issued a high-level public condemnation of Trump’s recent executive order, which has been contested by judges in New York and Virginia. But it appears to be worried about consequences for employees from the countries in question — all of whom can (and likely will) be banned from entering the US, even if they’ve been granted green cards. In response to questions from The Verge, Amazon forwarded a message from VP of human resources Beth Galetti, which was sent to the workforce.

Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president of Alphabet, joined protesters at San Francisco International Airport tonight as demonstrators assembled at airports across the country in opposition to President Trump’s immigration order. When asked for comment by The Verge, Brin said he was attending “in a personal capacity” and would not be giving comment. But Forbes’ Ryan Mac did catch Brin elaborating slightly — reportedly saying “I’m here because I’m a refugee.”

Brin’s family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1979 to escape Jewish persecution. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, is also an immigrant. “We’re upset about the impact of this order,” Pichai wrote in an company-wide email today. “We’ve always made our views on immigration issues known publicly and will continue to do so.”

The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay halting deportations under President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries tonight, following widespread protests at airports around the country.

You can read the full text of the stay here.

Airlines are perhaps the companies most directly affected by the order to ban citizens of seven countries from entry into the United States, even those with previously valid visas or US green cards.

The airlines have no choice but to cooperate with US Customs and Border Patrol instructions, even as they deal with passengers and, surely, employees who can no longer enter the United States.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has joined the tech chorus opposing President Donald Trump’s seven-country ban on immigration. In a two-part tweetstorm, Musk said the orders are “not the best way to address the country’s challenges” and that “many people” affected “don’t deserve to be rejected.”

Musk’s posts drew criticism from some followers who argued he hadn’t gone far enough in his statements. Perhaps complicating the issue is that just yesterday, Musk agreed to serve on Trump’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. Musk is also part of Trump’s economic advisory board.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for a temporary ban on pick-ups at John F. Kennedy Airport as a protest against President Trump’s ban on refugees from seven Muslim-dominated countries. The alliance, which represents a wide swath of yellow taxi drivers in New York City, called for a temporary stoppage of pick-ups and drop-offs at JFK between 6PM and 7PM on Saturday.

“Drivers stand in solidarity with thousands protesting inhumane & unconstitutional,” the alliance tweeted. The group also posted a photo of a desolate-looking Terminal 4 at the airport to illustrate its boycott.

Following President Donald Trump’s executive orders restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority nations on Friday, a number of protests have strung up across the country, under the banner #MuslimBan.

Earlier today, protests outside of New York City’s JFK airport came after passengers from affected countries with Visas were stopped at customs and were not permitted to enter the country.

Silicon Valley CEOs entered the debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration policy this weekend, offering criticisms of the seven-country immigration ban and in some cases outlining plans to support the employees it affects. The responses range in tone from mild rebuke to stern denunciation, reflecting both the varying personal opinions of the CEOs and their individual willingness to risk retribution from the federal government.

Here’s how tech companies reacted, with their responses sorted by the strength of their criticism.

In a message to employees obtained by The Verge, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that he was concerned about Donald Trump’s executive orders limiting immigration from seven countries, and that “it is not a policy we support.”

In the memo, Cook noted that there were employees that were affected by the executive orders, and that the company’s human resources, legal, and security teams were in touch to support them. He also noted that the company had reached out to the White House to protest the orders.