Pasadena-based Spokeo Joins 126 Tech Companies Filing Legal Brief vs. Trump Immigration Ban

The Pasadena-based company behind people search engine Spokeo has joined dozens of other American tech companies that filed a legal brief opposing President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban arguing that it would give companies a strong incentive to move jobs out of the U.S.

Spokeo CEO Harrison Tang, himself an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. from Taiwan when he was 13, said Spokeo decided to join the court motion notwithstanding the fact Trump’s executive order does not directly affect any of their employees.

“We felt that this is beyond the party line,” Tang said. “This directly affects the core American values of acceptance and diversity and innovation, so that’s why we chose to join the other tech companies and we’re actually one of the leading voices in the community.”

127 tech companies including big-name corporations in Silicon Valley such as Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Facebook, eBay, and Apple, banded together on Sunday and filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsin San Francisco.

The companies said Trump’s temporary ban on the citizens of seven Muslim-dominated countries and all refugees “inflict significant harm on American business.”

Tang said Trump’s order was so suddenly implemented it has caused people to be seriously concerned about what could happen next.

“There can be a possibility, without any warning, that the executive order can be extended to cover more countries without any oversight,” Tang said. “What this lawsuit is about is that the law needs to be predictable and should be just.”

Tang also said he believes if more people have been involved in formulating the executive order and more voices have been incorporated, there wouldn’t have been such a significant backlash.

“We value the importance of national security. We don’t go against that principle,” Tang said. “But that said, we do want to voice our concern over how exactly this executive order was implemented. We know we can be open and secure at the same time.”

The 127 companies argued in the brief that the order has created uncertainty for companies depending on talent from overseas and global business travel to innovate and create jobs in the U.S.

“Highly skilled immigrants will be more interested in working abroad, in places where they and their colleagues can travel freely and with assurance that their immigration status will not suddenly be revoked,” the brief said. It added multinational companies will now have strong incentives to base operations outside the U.S. or to move or hire employees and make investments elsewhere.

Tang said he recalls how his family has adapted to the American culture after immigrating from another country, and then spoke about the challenges he and his co-founders at Spokeo, most of whom also came from immigrant families, went through when they set up the company in 2006.

These experiences, he said, strengthened his respect for the values of openness and acceptance, innovation and diversity.

“I went through one of the biggest challenges of my life opening a tech company as an immigrant, and at the same time, I think this community, this American culture is so special in that it embraces all of us with open arms,” Tang said. “And I think we need to keep that tradition because that’s what makes America what it is.”