“Companies are Helping the US Government Keep Travelers Out: Is it Rights-Respectful?”, 17 Mar 2017

…[E]ven without the “Travel Ban” in effect, bureaus within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are [believed to be] restricting entry to non-citizens (and some citizens), sometimes on religious grounds. This, says the United Nations High Commissioner, violates human rights…Implementing enhanced screening and background checks requires…technologies, tools and services…provided by private sector contractors…NomoGaia reached out to 57 of the largest private contractors to DHS between February 6 and March 16, requesting information on how [they] had ensured that their goods and services were not at risk of being used to violate human rights.  Of those 57, none described any processes in place for conducting “human rights due diligence.” Only nine replied…UPS…asked to be excluded from the study.  BAE…Nestle…and Sprint…said they would get back to us but did not.  Microsoft…pointed us to public documents regarding their opposition to the ban…but not to documents addressing potential human rights implications of their government contract work.  PAE…CACI…and Northrop Grumman…declined to comment.  Battelle didn’t…reply...As companies [helping]…government implement its policies, they need to evaluate human rights risks…failure to respond brings the credibility of their policies…[and]… concern for racial and ethnic equality…into question…[Also refers to IBM, Raytheon, McKesson, United Technologies, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Bechtel, HP, SAIC, Verizon and AT&T].