WASHINGTON: Industry leaders and
executives
of US giants from Amazon and Apple to Tesla and Twitter slammed President Trump’s executive order on the suspension of green card processing and freezing work visas for foreign workers, warning on Tuesday that the move will set back American innovation and competitiveness. Advocates of a hardline nativist immigration policy celebrated the Presidential decree, although some complained that it did not go far enough.
The
US Chamber
of Commerce, which is typically Republican-leaning, led the criticism, warning that ‘restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and reduce job creation.” Across the tech industry, it was seen as a “gift” to Canada, which could benefit from its more open policy towards high skilled workers.
“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses, and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” the Chamber’s CEO Tom Donahue said in a statement. Disapproval also came from individual CEOs, some of whom