WASHINGTON —
A coalition led by some of the world’s biggest tech firms is taking on President Donald Trump’s travel ban, signaling the contentious relationship between the sector and the White House could be about to get worse.
Dozens of technology giants—including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter—filed a joint legal brief arguing against the temporary ban on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Their legal challenge suggests the important tech sector—which overwhelmingly opposed Trump in the November election—is likely to be headed for more battles with the new administration.
“The tech sector will stand up to the president when they see him threatening industry interests, and on the immigration issue all these companies depend heavily on foreign scientists and engineers,” said Darrell West, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.
“I think there is likely to be an adversarial relationship because many tech companies are staffed by millennials, and dominated by young and progressive people who are opposed to what Trump is doing now.”
Initial hopes for better cooperation faded this month when Uber founder Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s business advisory board, saying he did not want to be seen as endorsing the president’s policies.
While the sector enjoyed unusual cooperation and access to the White House during the presidency of Barack Obama, West said that “the technology sector doesn’t need much from government.”
“Almost all the tech innovation is funded by the private sector,” he added. “All they really want is a light regulatory touch.”
The brief filed in a federal appeals court—in support of a suspension of the travel ban—said the executive order has already created disruption in the sector, which depends heavily on foreign-born talent.
