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Nearly 50 tech companies in the Bay Area, represented by Fenwick & West, have filed an amicus brief calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a decision to permanently enjoin enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order threatening sanctuary cities' funding.

The friend of the court brief, filed late Monday, alleges Executive Order 13,678 “exceeded the president's constitutional powers” and could dissuade talented immigrants from coming to the United States and bringing innovation with them. The 49 tech companies signing on to the brief included major players such as Airbnb Inc., Eventbrite Inc. and GitHub Inc.

The companies are backing the city of San Francisco and Santa Clara County in their case against the Trump administration. The two prevailed over the administration on Nov. 20 of last year, when a judge from the Northern District of California in San Francisco upheld a nationwide injunction against implementation of the order.

In their brief, the tech companies emphasized the potential damage Trump's order could do in California.

“First, the conduct that the order unconstitutionally seeks to compel is antithetical to the values, practices and culture of Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and technology hubs across the country. Silicon Valley has become the technological innovation capital of the world because of the talents, drive, and ingenuity of people from all over the world,” the brief states.

“To compete in a global marketplace for exceptionally talented employees, companies must be able to offer an opportunity to live in fully functional communities—communities that are at the very least welcoming,” it continued.

The companies also argue the order would make sanctuary cities less safe than they currently are, and the loss of funding would place the Bay Area into financial uncertainty.

“The executive order has, overnight, thrown these tech hubs into financial limbo, uncertain whether they will have the means to provide basic government services to their local communities—either because the federal government will require them to divert local resources in the service of federal government priorities or because the federal government will withhold all federal funding should they decline to do so,” the brief states.

Fenwick partner Kathryn Fritz is listed as the lead attorney on the brief, along with Mitchell Zimmerman, Patrick Premo, Annasara Purcell, all of Fenwick, and Robert Lieber of Lieber Lawyers. Fenwick's representatives were not immediately available for comment, nor was the U.S. Department of Justice.