Over 450 technology professionals from major firms such as Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Salesforce have endorsed an open letter, imploring their chief executives to contact the White House and insist on the withdrawal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from American cities.
The IceOut.Tech open letter states, “For months, federal agents have been deployed by Trump to our cities, targeting us, our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and family members with criminalization.” It continues, “Across Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago, we have witnessed armed, masked agents perpetrating unrestrained violence, abductions, terror, and cruelty without any sign of abatement.”
Minneapolis is currently experiencing a significant federal immigration enforcement operation, utilizing methods so aggressive that many have described it as a military occupation. This initiative has led to clashes between federal agents and local residents protesting the raids, during which law enforcement has used crowd control measures such as pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound cannons indiscriminately.
The letter from tech professionals further asserts, “This situation is unsustainable, and we believe the technology sector can effect change.” It recalls, “When Trump issued a threat to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco in October, tech industry executives contacted the White House. This intervention was successful: Trump withdrew his threat.”
This advocacy effort among tech workers was initiated following the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis three weeks prior. The movement gained momentum over the weekend after Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.
The individuals who organized the letter chose to remain anonymous, and numerous signatories also opted for anonymity due to concerns about potential retaliation. TechCrunch has sought further details.
Several prominent tech figures have already voiced opposition to federal activities in Minneapolis. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, characterized ICE’s operational methods as “terrible for the people.” Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, referred to the current enforcement as “macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration.” Jeff Dean, chief scientist at Google DeepMind, urged “every person regardless of political affiliation” to condemn the rising violence. James Dyett, OpenAI’s head of global business, critiqued the industry’s quiet stance, stating on X that “there is far more outrage from tech leaders over a wealth tax than masked ICE agents terrorizing communities.”
Signal President Meredith Whittaker lamented the situation, asserting that masked agents are “executing people in the streets and powerful leaders are openly lying to cover for them.” She appealed, “To everyone in my industry who’s ever claimed to value freedom — draw on the courage of your convictions and stand up.”
Despite these criticisms, many highly influential figures within the tech industry have largely remained silent regarding the Trump administration’s policies and have instead sought to gain favor with the president. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon; Apple CEO Tim Cook; Google CEO Sundar Pichai; and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg were all present at President Trump’s inauguration and contributed to the inauguration fund, either personally or via their companies. None of them have publicly addressed the increased ICE raids.
Furthermore, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife Anna are significant contributors to causes and political figures aligned with President Trump and have also remained quiet. Elon Musk, consistent with his anti-immigration stance, has openly backed ICE operations, describing protestors as “pure evil.”
The letter additionally urges tech CEOs to terminate all corporate contracts with ICE—a potentially costly requirement, given that several tech companies currently have agreements with ICE. Palantir stands out as one of ICE’s primary tech collaborators. The company received a $30 million contract last year to develop “ImmigrationOS,” an AI-powered surveillance platform. Also last year, facial recognition firm Clearview AI secured a contract to supply ICE with facial recognition technology. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Oracle also furnish cloud infrastructure and IT services to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
TechCrunch has contacted these companies seeking their comments.
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