The American Chemical Society (ACS) joins 150 other scientific societies, associations and universities to express their concern over the Trump administration’s January 27 executive order on immigration, according to an article from Plastics News. The executive order temporarily bans immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, shuts down the refugee program for 120 days and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely, In a letter dated January 31, the group says, “The Executive Order will discourage many of the best and brightest international students, scholars, engineers and scientists from studying and working, attending academic and scientific conferences or seeking to build new businesses in the United States.”
According to the article, ACS also put out its own statement a day earlier asking the administration to consider “less intrusive means” of preventing terrorists from entering the United States. Since that time, a Seattle federal district court has issued a preliminary injunction on the executive order, which effectively extends a temporary restraining order issued earlier this month indefinitely, according to an article from ABC News. The White House is reportedly expected to release new and possibly multiple orders in response.