Seven out of ten Silicon Valley workers in computer and math jobs were born outside the United States. The percentage of Silicon Valley residents who were born outside the United States is almost three times higher than the U.S. population as a whole. It’s no wonder that President Trump’s executive order on immigration on January 27, 2017, has stirred up anxiety in the tech sector.
Joanna Mazur, Junior Analyst DELab UW
“Muslim Ban” – President Trump’s Immigration Executive Order
The executive order introduces a 90-day ban on entry to the United States for all non-citizens from Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, regardless of whether they have a visa (by the way, these were not the countries from which the terrorists responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001, and later, came). The document also provides for a 120-day suspension of refugee admission and an indefinite suspension of admission of refugees from Syria. The number of refugees that the United States is to accept in 2017 has been limited to 50 (instead of the 000 announced by Obama). Priority has been given to accepting refugees of minority religion in a given country. It is unclear how people with dual citizenship, such as Syrian-German, will be treated. The comments of Trump's government representatives may raise concerns among people with American citizenship who frequently travel between the United States and one of the countries covered by the ban.
Action – reaction
The news of the presidential decree led to large-scale social protests and demonstrations at airports. Among those taking part were lawyers who opposed the solutions introduced by the new president. Human rights organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, also took on several cases of people detained at airports. However, the cases concerned specific people already in the United States, not rulings on the constitutionality of the decree itself.
President Trump's decision was met with opposition from the international community. Negative opinions were issued by, among others, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the International Rescue Committee, Theresa May's office, Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson, Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) and Angela Merkel. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, Jean-Marc Ayrault (Foreign Minister of France) and Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister of Scotland) issued statements regarding support for refugees and openness to newcomers.
Technology versus politics
The executive order was met with critical and emotional responses from members of the new technology sector. Trump’s decision was addressed by Stewart Butterfield, owner of Slack and Flickr; Mark Zuckerberg; Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief legal officer; Tim Cook of Apple; Reed Hastins, CEO of Netflix; and Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn.
In order to create a joint strategy for action against the executive order, GitHub representatives have proposed a meeting of corporations operating in the technology industry. One of the options being considered is to join a lawsuit challenging the legality of the executive order. Amazon.com and Expedia have already joined the lawsuit filed by the Washington state attorney against the act.
Given the high percentage of foreign-born Silicon Valley workers, the impact of President Trump's anti-immigrant and discriminatory policies on technological development can be expected to be extremely negative. President Obama's policy of relative openness and support for innovation is being turned around 180 degrees. The technology industry is also concerned about President Trump's unclear position on cybersecurity, encryption, and the 2015 Open Internet Principles (Federal Communications Commission "Open Internet" rules).
As it also turned out, a corporation’s stance on immigration can have a direct impact on its business performance. When New York taxi drivers joined the protest against the executive order, Uber required its drivers to drive to JFK Airport; it also began charging higher prices (due to the increased demand for the service). The company’s policy was quickly criticized on social media: the #deleteuber campaign led to Uber becoming a less downloaded app than its competitor, Lyft, for the first time since its inception. The vast majority of Uber and Lyft users are between the ages of 18 and 44, most of whom supported Hillary Clinton during the presidential election.
The Uber boycott may turn out to be just a passing trend. More likely, however, is that tech companies’ attitudes toward President Trump’s discriminatory and xenophobic policies will have a real impact on their market position. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s decision to leave the group that was supposed to advise Trump on business issues shows that they are aware of the power of this mechanism.
The slogan of Trump’s presidential campaign – for whom Twitter is the main channel of communication – was “Make America Great Again.” Creating barriers to employment in the technology sector, which is crucial to the economy, could prevent him from achieving that ambitious goal.
Źródła:
M. Orcutt's article "Three Touchy Questions for Tech Leaders to Ask Trump" available here.
Uber and Lyft user data available here.
Information on the participation of representatives of the new technologies sector in the proceedings against the regulation is available here.
Information on Uber's position relative to Lyft available here.
A critical analysis of the Obama presidency's tech record is available now here.
The executive regulation by K. Calamur is available here here.
The 2016 Silicon Valley Index report is now available here.
Report "Terrorism in America after 9/11" available here.
The reactions of leaders around the world to President Trump's order are described here.
The text of the implementing regulation is available here.
The text of the regulation with comments is available here.
News of Uber CEO leaving group advising President Trump on business available here.
Results exit polls after the presidential elections on November 9, 2016, available here.
Barack Obama's statement on technology available here.
