CTA Stands by Opinion That Trump Immigration Order Raises Constitutional Issues

CTA declined comment on the amici brief signed by dozens of tech companies backing the states of Washington and Minnesota in their fight to keep President Donald Trump’s now-suspended immigration executive order from being reinstated (see 1702060016). “We have not yet reviewed the brief,” CTA President Gary Shapiro emailed us Tuesday. “We stand by our initial statement” two days after the order was first released (see 1701290001) that blocking access en masse of employees of U.S. companies who are lawful visa and green card holders based on religion or national origin raises constitutional issues, Shapiro said. He also testified at last week’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens that he thinks the immigration order isn’t good for business (see report in the Feb. 2 issue of this publication). Eight more companies, for a total of 135, filed letters of joinder Tuesday adding their support to the tech industry's amici brief against the immigration order. They are Akamai, Credo Mobile, Fitbit, Molecule Software, PostMates, QuantCast, SoundCloud and SpotHero. Oral argument on the Trump administration’s emergency motion to stay a lower court’s temporary restraining order that blocked enforcement of the immigration order was scheduled for 3 p.m. PST Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.