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WASHINGTON: The US tech industry closed ranks and was joined by Hollywood and academia as America’s liberal constituency fought in courts and demonstrated at airports against President Trump ’s executive order barring entry to refugees and citizens from several Muslim countries.

The White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, appeared to reverse a key part of the order on Sunday, saying green card holders from the affected countries would not be prevented from returning to the US. He added that Pakistan may be included in the ban list in the future.

Hours before, a federal judge issued an emergency stay on the order, preventing deportation of those arriving with valid papers. While activists, including cabbies (mostly immigrants) jammed terminals in New York and Washington airports in protest, Silicon Valley and Hollywood elites berated the Trump administration, standing up for America’s tradition of welcoming immigration and benefiting from it.

“ Apple would not exist without immigration , let alone thrive and innovate the way we do,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a memo. Cook also revealed that in his recent conversations with officials in US, he had “made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration — both to our company and to our nation’s future”.

“The executive order ignores the single truth that we have come to know; talented immigrants have had outsized contributions to the growth and prosperity of the US. Diversity in all of its forms is crucial to growth, innovation and a healthy, inclusive society,” Mozilla CEO Chris Beard wrote in a memo, saying the “overly broad order and its implementation... is a bad precedent, ignores history, and is likely to do more lasting harm than good.”

Even Silicon Valley executives who have sought to engage with the Trump administration and have agreed to serve on his economic advisory committee and policy forums rejected the diktat. “The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, adding, “Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the US. They’ve done right, not wrong & don’t deserve to be rejected.”

Among those affected immediately, besides students and academics, were sportsmen, including Sudanese basketballers and Iranian wrestlers who train in the US. The University of Michigan said it “welcomes and supports students without regard to their immigration status...and will continue to admit students in a manner consistent with our non-discrimination policy”.

Hollywood reacted strongly to reports that Academy Award winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi might not be able to enter US, with Motion Picture Association of America calling Trump’s action “extremely troubling”. “Along with liar, racist, misogynist, fool, infantile, sick, narcissist, with the Muslim ban we can now add heartless & evil to DT’s repertoire,” tweeted filmmaker Rob Reiner, adding, Trump’s “desperate need for self aggrandisement is destroying US. Nothing will fill his black heart.”

Trump’s decree found support in conservative media outlets such as Breitbart News and Drudge Report, which echoed under headlines such as “Silicon Sultans Panic”, “Hollywood Meltdown”, and “Journalists Freak”. Breitbart News called the judge who struck down the order an “Obamaappointed, Schumer-allied” judge (Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator), while describing Council for American-Islamic Relations as a “terror-tied group causing chaos, promoting protests as Trump protects nation.”

