Before Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, he was already meeting with some of the top tech companies in the country, banding together a group of the greatest minds and business people this country has to offer.
While some companies weren’t entirely excited about Trump being the next president, they did the mature thing and put egos and personal preference aside to come together and create a committee that would benefit technological advancements to ensure America’s future as a global competitor and leader in tech.
Then Trump announced his immigrant “ban” near the end of January. This executive order would deny citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days and suspend the admittance of all refugees for 120 days. These countries were Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.
A Country in Disbelief…
This order from the president left many in disbelief that as a country we were denying individuals from entering “the land of the free”… despite the fact that these refugees go through a rigorous screening process in order to be allowed into the U.S.
They have go through biographic security checks from the National Counterterrorism Center/Intelligence Community, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.
So if the president wants to ban refugees and immigrants from these countries because they are seen as a “threat,” you would think that one of these four agencies would detect them as a threat before they were even accepted into the U.S.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official said the U.S. denied entry to 109 travelers who were already in transit to the country when the executive order was signed.
These individuals were traveling on nonimmigrant visas, which means they did all of the necessary paperwork to be allowed into the U.S. as a tourist, student, or for work, but because of the order, they couldn’t come into the U.S. and have to find arrangements back to their country.
Trump’s order created a huge backlash throughout the country — including with those CEOs who made up his business advisory council.
The technology market is extremely competitive, and that’s why companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. try to recruit the greatest minds throughout the world. The recruiting process to get a job with these companies is extremely difficult, but it’s a crucial process to maintain the highest level of innovation within the company.
And sometimes to find that innovation, companies have to look beyond the U.S. for employees — according to the U.S. Department of Labor, by 2020, the U.S. is expected to have 1.4 million computer specialist job openings, but universities will only be able to produce enough graduates to fill 29% of those jobs.
Going Against Trump’s Travel Ban
As of February 6th, a total of 127 companies have joined together to fight against Trump’s travel ban. Some of the top tech companies, like Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix, and Twitter, filed court papers declaring that the executive order on immigration “violates the immigration laws and the Constitution.”
Their court motion goes further to emphasize the role of immigration in the U.S., saying:
Immigrants make many of the Nation’s greatest discoveries, and create some of the country’s most innovative and iconic companies.
Large companies like Kraft, Ford, General Electric, Google, Disney, etc. have fueled the U.S. economy and were founded by immigrants — they wouldn’t be the companies they are today without the hard work of immigrants.
For these companies to fight against the president’s travel ban is only going to create more nationwide critique towards the president.
And if it wasn’t obvious before, it’s obvious now… the president doesn’t take too kindly to critique. On top of that, he has some of the wealthiest companies in the country fighting against his executive order, which is only going to embarrass him not only as a president, but also as a “businessman.”
Until next time,
Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today