Google will co-sign a letter opposing President Trump’s recently issued immigration ban, Kara Swisher of Recode reported on Thursday. The Mountain View-based tech giant is reportedly one of many Silicon Valley companies that will author a letter formally opposing the executive order President Trump signed last week to prevent citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries from emigrating to the United States. Other tech companies looking to co-sign the letter include the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. While primarily symbolic, this move would mark the first time the tech industry formally united against President Trump’s policies, only two weeks into his tenure.
The Silicon Valley is also reportedly interested in getting other industries involved in their joint initiative against the current U.S. administration. The contents of the letter in question are currently unknown, but the tech industry will at the very least use this document to formally voice strong opposition to the immigration ban. Most top executives at Google and other tech giants already criticized President Trump’s decision to suspend immigration from certain prevalently Muslim countries, with Alphabet’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt even describing his policies as “evil things,” but official opposition to the ban has yet to be voiced. It’s also possible that Google’s letter will be worded as a threat and maybe even serve as a precursor to legal action against the current U.S. administration, though that seems less likely at the moment.
The Alphabet-owned Internet firm already established the largest crisis fund in its history in response to President Trump’s immigration ban. The Silicon Valley’s opposition to the ban isn’t surprising seeing how the U.S. tech giants have traditionally relied on immigration to acquire talent. On the other hand, the current administration is defending its decision by describing it as a temporary measure intended to buy them additional time until they design a stricter visa vetting process which will supposedly prevent abuse of the H1-B visa program. The new vetting process that’s already in the works will likely hurt the tech industry even more, but it remains to be seen what the Silicon Valley can do to actively oppose it. As things stand right now, tensions between the industry and Washington will likely rise in the coming weeks.