Amazon is supporting the Washington state attorney general, who is making his state the first to sue Trump.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is adding more weight to his company’s opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order banning refugees and those with legal visas from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States.
In an email sent to Amazon employees today, Bezos said that Amazon is putting its lobbying chops to work to fight the ban, both on Capitol Hill and in the courts.
Specifically, Bezos notes that Amazon is supporting the Washington state attorney general, who is suing Trump over his executive order. Washington state is the first state to do so.
Here’s an excerpt of Bezos’s email:
"We reached out to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to explore legislative options. Our legal team has prepared a declaration of support for the Washington State Attorney General who will be filing suit against the order. We are working other legal options as well."
This is the second statement from Amazon in the past 48 hours on Trump’s travel ban, following another company-wide note sent Saturday evening urging Amazon employees from any of the seven countries under the ban not to leave the U.S. and offering legal resources for employees and their immediate family who are impacted by Trump's executive order.
It took Amazon a day to collect its response — even if it is a strong one — with Bezos dedicating Amazon’s deep legal resources to fight Trump’s refugee ban. Trump signed the executive order late last Friday.
It has set off a string of reactions from fellow tech leaders: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a post on Friday about his concerns with the executive order. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also took to Facebook to air his strong opposition to Trump’s sweeping immigration policies.
Silicon Valley relies heavily on the H-1B visa, which brings in approximately 65,000 skilled foreign workers to the U.S. a year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In its declaration of support to the Washington state attorney general, Amazon notes that the company is aware of 49 employees born in one of the countries listed under Trump’s immigration order who all work in the United States legally.
The full copy of Amazon’s declaration:
Declaration of Ayesha Blackwell 1-30 by April Glaser on Scribd
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