Tech Sector Impacted by Birthright Citizenship Ruling

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00:00Starting with the basics here is important. What happened with the Supreme Court ruling

00:04and what are the mechanics of what it means for H-1B visas that we've just outlined?

00:10So the Supreme Court ruled that federal district judges cannot issue nationwide injunctions.

00:17And so this decision basically affects how legal challenges to President Trump's birthright

00:22citizenship executive order can actually proceed. And it's scheduled to go back into effect July 27.

00:29So what this means is that if an H-1B visa holder wants to insulate their baby from the effects of

00:36the executive order, they need to sue individually or join a class action lawsuit or live in a state

00:42that sues or successfully obtains an injunction. So essentially the ruling opens the door to

00:48piecemeal enforcement of immigration policies, which will potentially lead to differing legal

00:53standards in different parts of the country. But coming back to your question about how it impacts

00:57tech companies, what this means is that there's a possibility that the babies of the employees

01:03of these tech companies will be treated differently depending on where the employee sues or where the

01:08employee lives. And that is going to create a whole new category of employee questions and policy

01:13considerations for the company that it has not had to grapple with in the past.

01:17We heard from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about this in Friday's show. Just listen to what she had

01:23to say.

01:24So birthright citizenship will be decided in October in the next session. However, it indirectly impacts us

01:31because, as you correctly pointed out, if there's a birthright citizenship case in Oregon, it will only

01:37affect the plaintiff in Oregon, not the entire country. So, yes, it's indirectly. But that's pending

01:43litigation. And we're waiting on that in the next term. We're very confident in the Supreme Court.

01:47But again, it's pending litigation. And that will directly be determined in October. But it indirectly

01:53impacts every case in this country. And we're thrilled with their decision today.

01:59Hiba, would you kindly interpret and explain the pending action in October that the Attorney General

02:08Bondi was talking about?

02:09So my understanding about what's happening in October is that there's going to be a decision

02:14in terms of, like, the merits of the birthright citizenship executive order itself. So if you

02:20recall, what happened on Friday was the Supreme Court only ruled as it pertains to the judge's

02:28ability to issue a nationwide injunction. There has not been any sort of a decision on the

02:32constitutionality of the birthright citizenship executive order itself. So therein lies, I think,

02:37the issue. Because we're facing the next several months of different states having different

02:42standards and babies born in those states being treated differently, that is where the logistical,

02:48administrative and possibly even bureaucratic challenges will arise, both for the high-skilled

02:54H-1B visa holders or high-skilled immigrants in the country, as well as the companies that employ them.

02:58Let's look at those companies again, Hiba. We've got a beautiful chart that shows how integral H-1B

03:05visas, for example, are for certain U.S. tech giants. Amazon, there's emphasis, of course,

03:10we all recognize is dependent on H-1B as well. Cognizant, Google, this sort of perception of

03:16instability and immigration, what does it mean for U.S. employers, do you think?

03:20I think it's important to note that the tech companies in the United States do rely on high-skilled

03:26immigrants from other countries. And part of the reason for their success and their ability to

03:32remain competitive on a global stage has been their ability to hire the best and the brightest.

03:38So if there are high-skilled immigrants out there who have even the slightest perception of instability in

03:43the U.S. immigration system, there's a chance that that might factor into their decision

03:48to accept an offer from a U.S. company or accept an offer from a company in another country.

03:53So what the companies and, you know, folks in the United States really have to, I think,

03:57grapple with is whether they want those skills and that innovation to go elsewhere as opposed

04:03to the benefit of the U.S. companies.

04:06Hiba, what are you advising in the here and now? You must be fielding countless calls.

04:11And if there is an employer who's trying to lure in someone who might eventually already be

04:15pregnant or thinking about it, are they going to have to sue on an individual basis, do you think?

04:20So individuals, as it stands right now, until something changes, unless and until something

04:25changes, if an individual wants to insulate their future baby from being impacted by the

04:30birthright citizenship executive order, either they have to sue individually or they have to join a class

04:34action or they have to be in a state that sued, you know, on the merits of birthright citizenship

04:40so that the individuals from that state are somehow insulated from the applicability of the executive

04:46order. So that is where I find some challenges to tech companies that actually employ a lot of

04:52these visa holders, because what I think is going to happen is companies are going to start to get

04:56questions that they've never really had to answer before. For example, what if the employee is

05:01scheduled to relocate to a different state but doesn't feel comfortable relocating to that state because

05:06they're concerned about whether or not their child will be considered a US citizen upon birth? Is the

05:11company now going to change something about the relocation? Are they going to extend some sort of

05:16reasonable accommodation? Are they going to stay away from the topic altogether? These are now the

05:21policy, company policy considerations that I think a lot of tech companies are going to have to decide.

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