Tech:NYC, a non-profit technology policy organization, has now joined the list of companies condemning the immigration ban. It has also made its thoughts public by penning down a very public letter criticizing President Trump’s decisions.
The letter encompasses many eminent executives from top tech companies, investment firms and similar organizations including Indiegogo, Greylock Partners, Casper, Birchbox, Foursquare, Warby Parker, LittleBits, Betaworks, Kickstarter, Lyft, Vine, Buzzfeed, Trello, Uber and Slack. The list of the companies involved is around a dozen pages long and includes companies like Uber and Lyft as well, who have also released their statements individually. Meanwhile, more names are expected to join the list.
The letter broadcasts the historical significance of immigrants to the city, which boasts of having maximum number of foreign-born immigrants in the world, as well as their significance in the tech community.
It is dangerous to discourage immigration when the facts show that immigrant entrepreneurs play a significant cant role in the American economy. Immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a business as the native-born population. Immigrant entrepreneurs started, in whole or in part, some of the most important technology companies of our time including LinkedIn, Tesla Motors, Zipcar, Google, Intel, Yahoo!, eBay, and WhatsApp. More than half of the companies on the current list of U.S. technology startups valued at $1 billion or more were started by immigrants.
The letter has been targeted towards U.S. President Donald Trump, New York State’s US senate and house members and congressional leaders Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi, in order to explain to them that the U.S. can attain security “without threatening the inclusivity and diversity at the heart of New York City—and the United States.”
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC executive director told TechCrunch;
Alexander Graham Bell came to this country to start AT&T, like Sergey Brin and Google. In New York, we’ve seen it up close for centuries: immigrants who bring their skills and their dreams to this country make it a stronger and richer place. We should be making it easier for immigrants from anywhere to come to the United States and this executive order moves us backward. New York’s tech community stands on the side of those who want to build something new in America for themselves, their families, and all of us.
