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The ACLU of Massachusetts and The Alliance for Business Leadership – along with 22 other Massachusetts tech and business leaders – today urged Governor Baker to protect Massachusetts residents from discriminatory federal policy.
“We, the undersigned leaders in science, health care, technology businesses, research organizations, and civil society groups urge your administration to lead efforts to expand and protect the health and vitality of the Massachusetts economy by taking steps to ensure the Commonwealth remains a safe place for refugees and immigrants,” the ACLU and the business leaders said in a letter to the Governor.
Business leaders, in the letter, thank Governor Baker for his statements in opposition to the recent White House executive order, and urge him to continue to speak out against the Trump Administration’s Muslim ban proposals and to support state legislation to protect Massachusetts residents from discriminatory federal policy.
“Business leaders like to focus on the bottom line, and the bottom line here is that immigrants are vital to Massachusetts’ economic success,” said Jesse Mermell, President of The Alliance for Business Leadership. “Twenty-one percent of entrepreneurs in Massachusetts are immigrants, 58 percent of Fortune 500 companies based here were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, and immigrants make up 18 percent of all people employed in our state. Standing up for the Commonwealth’s immigrant community is not only standing up for diversity and inclusion, it is standing up for the future of our economy.”
“On behalf of the ACLU’s nearly 100,000 supporters in Massachusetts, we thank the business community for joining us in the fight to protect our freedoms,” said Carol Rose, executive director of ACLU of Massachusetts. “Here in the Commonwealth, our innovation economy runs on the free flow of people and ideas. With the highest per-capita number of technology and science workers of any state, Massachusetts has a lot to gain by protecting our open and inclusive society. Together, business leaders, civil rights advocates, and state government can guarantee continued prosperity by protecting and defending our communities from improper, discriminatory federal policy.”
The letter comes after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent ruling on the temporary restraining order on President Trump’s executive order banning entry to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries - and amid the anticipation for President Trump's revised executive order on immigration.