If many tech leaders were less than pleased when Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, his executive order Friday temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and keeping out all refugees from Syria has cemented their opposition.

That’s understandable from strictly a business point of view, since many major tech companies are headed by immigrants and virtually all of them employ many immigrants. But the backlash against the ban went deeper, with dozens of chief executives and entrepreneurs taking to Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media to express views ranging from deep concern to fervent disapproval to utter disbelief.

The executive order bans immigration from seven select majority-Muslim countries — Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Syria, though not others such as Saudi Arabia — for at least 90 days and stops all refugees from Syria from entering the U.S. for 120 days. A senior White House official said the order is likely a first step toward a broader ban.

The order, which has led to mass protests, was blocked on Saturday by a U.S. federal judge. “This ruling preserves the status quo and ensures that people who have been granted permission to be in this country are not illegally removed off US soil,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Google Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai slammed the order in a memo to staff members and said the company is recalling about 100 staffers in other countries who might be affected.

“It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,” said Pichai, adding, “We’re upset about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US.” Google co-founder Sergey Brin was reportedly protesting the order at San Francisco airport. Brin’s family fled the Soviet Union to escape Jewish persecution when Brin was just 6 years old.

Microsoft Corp. issued a very similar statement to Google’s, saying, “We share the concerns about the impact of the executive order on our employees from the listed countries, all of whom have been in the United States lawfully, and we’re actively working with them to provide legal advice and assistance.”

Microsoft’s chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, made it personal in a memo shared on LinkedIn, reminding people that he himself was an immigrant to the U.S. “I’ve both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country, and for the world,” said Nadella.

Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg reaction was also personal, reminding his followers on Facebook that his “great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla’s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that.”

Zuckerberg said he was “concerned” about the order, mirroring what many people have said in that such a move could be catastrophic for people who are innocent of any crime. He also struck a conciliatory tone, one that didn’t go over well with some in the industry: “I’m also glad the President believes our country should continue to benefit from ‘people of great talent coming into the country.'”

Amazon.com Inc. warned its employees that could be affected by the ban not to travel outside the country, adding that the company is “committed to equal rights, tolerance and diversity.” CEO Jeff Bezos, however, has yet to offer a public statement.

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, in one of the milder statements, said the order was not “not a policy we support.” He finished his memo to employees quoting Dr. Martin Luther King. “We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.”

Uber Technologies Inc. boss Travis Kalanick posted on Facebook, saying that innocent people would be hurt by the ban and that was something he’d tell Trump when attending next week’s business advisory group meeting. “I’ve always believed in principled confrontation and just change,” said Kalanick, “and have never shied away (maybe to my detriment) from fighting for what’s right.”

Others who have worked with Trump in the transition to the new administration were less strident. Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk offered what sounded like an understatement on Twitter, saying that perhaps the ban was “not the best way” to deal with problems in the U.S. “Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the U.S. They’ve done right, not wrong and don’t deserve to be rejected,” wrote Musk.

Lyft Inc. sent a message to employees, stating that the ban was against the company’s “core values,” adding, “We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.”

But at least as common were more forceful criticisms. Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings sent a stern message saying that Trump’s order “pains us all” and is “so un-American,” adding that such a move could foment hatred toward the U.S.

Hastings was joined by Twilio Inc. CEO Jeff Lawson, who also said the order was “un-American.” Lawson said the cherished freedom that exists in America has been “extinguished, exactly when humanity needs it the most … There is an obvious word for this, it is persecution.” Lawson wrote that by instituting a religious test, “We have very clearly enshrined religious discrimination in federal policy (and emboldened the ‘us vs. them’ storyline that terror organizations propagate).”

Twitter tweeted support for immigrants, saying, “Twitter is built by immigrants of all religions. We stand for and with them, always.” Box.com CEO Aaron Levie, never shy in putting forward his views on Twitter, issued perhaps one of the strongest reactions. On Twitter he wrote, “On every level – moral, humanitarian, economic, logical, etc.- this ban is wrong and is completely antithetical to the principles of America.”

Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack Technologies Inc., didn’t hold his punches either: “And he’s just getting started. It’s still so hard to believe that this is real life. Nearly every action seems gratuitously … evil,” he wrote on Twitter.

Like nothing else Trump has said or done so far, the executive order has appeared to galvanize some tech leaders who had counseled colleagues to find ways to work with the new administration into calling for action. Sam Altman, Y Combinator president and investor, said it’s time that tech companies took a stand, “to start speaking up about some of the actions taken by President Trump’s administration” in spite of the business risk. “This is not just a Muslim ban.  This is a breach of America’s contract with all the immigrants in the nation,” said Altman, adding, “Almost every member of the GOP I have spoken to knows that these actions are wrong.”

Then there’s investor Peter Thiel, who has been criticized for his support of Trump before and after the election. Even he issued a brief statement through his spokesman Jeremiah Hall: “Peter doesn’t support a religious test, and the administration has not imposed one.”

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr