TECH COMPANIES UNITE

A group of nearly 30 tech companies and other organizations filed a legal brief Friday to defend a program that gives work authorization to the spouses of high-skilled immigrants.

The Obama-era rule lets nearly 100,000 spouses of H1-B visa holders in the U.S. work. The rule, known as H-4 EAD, is currently being challenged in court by a group of American tech workers, Save Jobs USA, which says that visa holders and their spouses unfairly compete with American workers.

The coalition of tech companies and organizations advocating for the program filed brief with the court on Friday.

In the amicus brief, the companies and organizations — including Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Twitter — say repealing the rule would “be utterly destructive for the families impacted” and hurt their businesses.