A total of 97 companies, including Apple and many other major Silicon Valley technology firms, filed an amicus brief late on Sunday to oppose the immigration order introduced by US President Donald Trump (via Bloomberg). An amicus brief is a legal filing that allows parties not directly involved in a lawsuit to offer their opinions to the court.
The brief says an open-ended ban does not aid America’s national security and instead undermines its interests. It notes that 200 of the companies in the Fortune 500 list were founded by immigrants or their children.
Here’s an extract of the comments in the brief, which was apparently originally planned to be filed later in the week, which note that the need to protect national security is not justified by a blanket ban on immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
As it stands, the order remains halted after a US district judge temporarily stayed the ban. An appeals court ruling in opposition means that the executive order has not been reinstated.
In a memo to employees, Tim Cook has previously said that the order is ‘not a policy we support’. As well as attacking the purpose of the ban, the brief also criticizes the slapdash way in which it was enacted causing confusion and even more disruption.
