US tech leaders criticize Trump in open letter

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – A group of U.S. technology leaders criticized Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump in an open letter Thursday, bashing his vision for the country.

Released online, the letter was signed by 145 executives from tech heavyweights, including Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Tumblr CEO David Karp, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

“We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field. Donald Trump does not,” according to the letter that said the real estate developer’s campaign is based on "anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people", and his vision is against the free movement of people and open exchange of ideas.

"Trump would be a disaster for innovation," it added, while slamming his views on immigration and it argued that diversity fosters new ideas in technology.

"Progressive immigration policies help us attract and retain some of the brightest minds on earth ,” the letter said. “Donald Trump, meanwhile, traffics in ethnic and racial stereotypes, and is openly hostile to immigration. He has promised a wall, mass deportations, and profiling.”

The group said it wants a presidential candidate that would embrace openness to immigrants, a more inclusive country and equality of opportunity.