A consortium of tech companies and their leaders plan on meeting Tuesday to discuss how to combat President Donald Trump’s immigration ban, with the possibility of filing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging the restrictions.
The meeting was called together by software development service GitHub, and Google, Airbnb, Netflix, Dropbox, Mozilla, SpaceX, reddit, Yelp, Medium, Pinterest, Lithium and several others were invited, according to Reuters.
Amicus (or “friend of the court”) briefs are legal documents that are officially filed by parties not directly involved in the case, but have a direct interest in the subject at hand.
“We’re all very shaken. We’re shaken to see our neighbors and our families and our friends targeted in this way,” Michal Rosenn, general counsel for crowdfunding company Kickstarter, told Reuters. “All of us are trying to think about what we can do.”
It is not quite clear which specific legal case the tech group may support; the Washington state attorney general filed one, and so did the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
A number of tech executives responded to Trump’s executive orders on immigration:
Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, the online network for lodging and accommodations, said his company will be “providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the U.S.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is a member of Trump’s business advisory group, said the “executive order is one we do not support” and that his company is supporting a lawsuit filed by the Washington state attorney general.
Open doors brings all of US together. Closing doors further divides US. Let's all find ways to connect people, not separate them.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 28, 2017
If you're able to host refugees in need via Airbnb, you can sign up here: https://t.co/ccI5BKW0mX https://t.co/WWTGUNemMv
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 30, 2017
Bezos also said he is exploring “other legal options.”
Uber founder Travis Kalanick said that he disagrees with Trump’s decision to restrict immigration, and that he is compensating drivers affected by the immigration restrictions free of charge.
“I understand that many people internally and externally may not agree with that decision [to join], and that’s OK. It’s the magic of living in America that people are free to disagree,” Kalanick wrote in an email to employees, which he later published on Facebook.
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