Microsoft working with Washington State on suit against Trump immigration order

Which is why Obama sued Arizona when their governor signed the law to essentially enforce the existing federal laws lol.

tl;dr if I'm reading right: Texas and 26 other states sued the federal government over Obama's DAPA executive order. The district court said Texas had standing and issued a preliminary injunction against DAPA. The court of appeals also said Texas had standing and affirmed the injunction, and SCOTUS 4-4 did not reverse them. (Alas, poor Merrick!)

Things have been heading this way since the end of the Cold War. Once the Berlin wall came down, there was no longer an external "enemy" to rally against, so a new one had to be invented. Unfortunately, that ended up being an "other" internal to the same country. It feels like this internal schism finally reached a boiling point in the most recent election. People I normally think of as reasonable are angry and unwilling to listen to rational thought. There is nowhere left to turn for cooler heads. I am afraid of where it all is going from here.

If so, you are greatly overstating the bad effects of ending that policy.

First of all, that was not the only way Cubans could apply for refugee status. All other paths to refugee status are still open to them. All that is ending is giving them a special path.

Second, its use had dropped way off over the last several years. Most Cubans who come to the US without visas, as refugees or otherwise, come over land through Mexico now. (Cuba has greatly eased travel restrictions).

Third, most Cubans who come over now are not coming as refugees. They are coming for jobs, or to visit family, or access American welfare programs. In short, they are coming for the same reasons that Mexicans come. If they use "wet food, dry foot" it is more likely to be as a way to jump the line than as a way to escape oppression.

Here's an article from National Review about why this program had outlived its usefulness: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429939/cuban-immigrati...

We think, and rightly so, that we can do more for Cubans by opening our economies now than we can by continuing the status quo. Part of that is shutting off the valve for refugees.

except for those Green Card holders and citizens returning from these countries who have a not unreasonable expectation that we gave them that they have a home here (and mostly, already, have a life here), right?

2. When Anne Frank's parents tried to get to the US between 1939 and 1941, the US certainly did not send them straight to death camps. The Final Solution wasn't even decided until 1942. Anne Frank wasn't arrested until 1944.

3. If the standard for US residence is love for our laws and conformity to our way of life, we need to come up with a good explanation for the special case where people born in the US are allowed to stay without vetting upon adulthood.

1. Rudy Giuliani is on record as saying that Trump asked how to 'legally' implement the Muslim ban he promised in the campaign trail, and that this executive order is the result. Even if the end result isn't a blanket ban on all Muslims, the intent remains.

2. International law, and treaties that the US have signed, oblige them to shoulder some of the collective responsibility for refugee resettlement in the international community. Banning refugees based on their country of origin works against that, and may well be illegal.

You realize both of these can be true right? I flew out of BWI last night on Delta. There were hundreds of protesters at the airport, but they didn't delay us.

We did have to wait 4 hours for the Delta computer systems in Atlanta to be restored to service.

Hi -- there's a very important piece of information missing from your take, and I think it might make a difference to you: not only are refugees being stopped from entering the United States. Regular people who already live here legally (many of whom aren't refugees) are being stopped too.

All citizens of the countries listed, even those who have lived in the USA for years legally on visas, even those who are legal permanent residents, are not allowed to enter the USA. They are not even allowed to be routed through it in most cases. These people are detained on entry, handled as criminals, many questioned for hours, and several have been given forms that, when signed, revoke their residence permanently. Then they are sent back.

This means professors, doctors, students, scientists, and lots of regular people who have lived legally in the USA for years, some for decades, many of whom think of themselves as American first. If they're inside the US, they're now effectively stuck inside. If they're outside, they're now stuck outside for 3 months minimum -- it could go longer, if their country doesn't introduce sufficient "vetting" in response, and provided nothing new stops them.

Regular people who aren't trying to escape anything, who aren't trying to join the country, who ALREADY live here, are now homeless, forced to go to other nations, and dealt with as criminals if they try to come home to America.

(also, while there were computer problems again, there were also many real protests at major airports)

If anything, HN benefits from diverse viewpoints as long as they're expressed thoughtfully and respectfully.

It would also establish precedent against a new ban of this sort being established.

That was enough to stay execution for people who had already arrived in the US or were in transit at the time of the ruling. If Microsoft gets just a stay for future travelers within even a few weeks, that will be enough to allow them to continue business while fighting the legality of the order itself in the courts.

I'd guess they can also seek penalties or restitution.

"In what is a dark, and fascist time in Trump's America, brave companies like Microsoft and Amazon and standing up to the Orange Dictator in a brave cry for Freedom" and yadda yadda.

Also, they want to make sure they don't lose out on any future prospects to the competition - can't have too many college grads deciding getting a green card in America isn't worth all the vitriol and hatred being spewed at you by the Administration and starting their own companies or going to the competition, I imagine.

It is not a religious ban, and it's not a blanket ban. Most people so far delayed have been cleared for entry.

It's a 90 day ban on certain countries followed by an permanent ban by countries that don't meet as-yet-unspecified information sharing standards.

Plus some other parts (like the complete refugee ban) with different timelines.

> How fast can a lawsuit reach the courts?

Pretty near instantly.

> It'll be over before it goes to trial.

Perhaps (or, more likely, the parameters and legal issues will shift before that happens), but that just means that getting a TRO pre-trial may be as good as prevailing at trial, as far as the initial 90 day ban policy is concerned.

So it's no surprise that Microsoft are coming out on the side of their employees, and indeed on the benefits of immigration in general - I know from being tangentially involved in some of the hiring process that it's exceedingly difficult to fill certain positions without looking abroad, as the talent is spread globally.

what makes you assume "cheap"?