While a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to prohibit enforcement of the ban earlier this month, that decision has been met with strong protest from the Trump Administration, USA Today reports. The Appeals Court decision upheld an earlier ruling by a federal judge in Seattle.
In response, administration officials are reviewing options that include asking the Supreme Court to lift the stay on the order; request that the full 9th Circuit review the ruling; fight for reinstate of the ban on the district court level; or issue a revised order. With the Trump Administration promising to fight the ruling, firms must deal with the uncertainty besetting their employees.
More than 20 large companies have issued public statements, Fortune reports. Some of those firms, including Apple, Amazon, Google and Yahoo, have credited immigrants for their success. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sent his employees a memo last month noting the firm’s opposition to the ban and its “full support” for impacted employees.
"We are a nation of immigrants whose diverse backgrounds, ideas and points of view have helped us build and invent as a nation for over 240 years," Bezos wrote in the memo. Google not only opposed the ban, but said it would raise $4 million to help immigrants who could be affected by the order. The ban impacts 187 of the firm’s staff, CEO Sundar Pichai said.
"We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S.," Pichai said in a statement. "We'll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.” Most U.S. corporations have either stayed silent or put out statements about their commitment to diversity without specifically taking on the ban.
The banking, healthcare and auto manufacturing industries "see themselves on the cusp of a new era of deregulation, and they do not want to do anything that would offend the new emperor," says Cornelius Hurley, director of Boston University's Center for Finance, Law & Policy. Nike CEO Mark Parker, however, did not worry about coming off as offensive.
"Nike believes in a world where everyone celebrates the power of diversity," Parker said in a statement. "Those values are being threatened by the recent executive order in the U.S. banning refugees, as well as visitors, from seven Muslim-majority countries.”
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook also did not hold back. "It is not a policy we support," he said. Apple, like Google, has employees directly impacted by the ban. "Our HR, Legal and Security teams are in contact with them, and Apple will do everything we can to support them,” Cook said.
Amazon’s human resources department had advised its employees against traveling internationally in light of the ban and joined in a lawsuit against the ban. One of the most vocal opponents of the ban, Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz, said in a letter to staff that they would hire 10,000 people that the United Nations recognizes as refugees. Starbucks would "neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new Administration's actions grows with each passing day,” Schultz said.