IBM released a statement that said Ms. Rometty had “conveyed the company’s views directly to the president
and the secretary of Homeland Security” on Feb. 3, “including suggestions for how technology can help to promote both national security and lawful immigration.”
Ed Barbini, vice president for corporate communications at IBM, said no further details were available.
At Oracle, the Silicon Valley database giant whose first customer was the Central Intelligence Agency, three young women — none of whom
has worked there for more than a handful of months — started a petition last week to encourage the company to join the amicus brief.
“In this case, it’s notable not to have taken a stand.”
A co-chief executive of Oracle, Safra Catz, and the chief executive of IBM, Virginia Rometty, became advisers to Mr. Trump during the transition.
SAN FRANCISCO — As soon as President Trump signed his executive order on immigration, some of the biggest tech companies went quiet.
When 127 companies signed an amicus brief last week in a Seattle court
that said the executive order “violates the immigration laws and the Constitution,” none of these six firms were on the list.
Ms. Catz said in December, “We are with him and will help in any way we can.”
The three friends who created the Oracle petition joined the company in August, when it acquired the company they worked for, Opower.
Cauvery Patel, a corporate strategy associate at IBM, said she believed “workplaces have a responsibility to society — to the clients we serve, the employees we hire
and the citizens who are impacted by our decisions.” She said IBM had been “progressive” in encouraging women’s participation in technology and on other issues, but had not delivered on the immigration ban.
“In some instances it is notable for a company to take a stand on an issue,” said one of the women, Irene Scher, a regional vice president of sales.
