Tech workers call for CEOs to speak up against ICE after the killing of Alex Pretti

The tech industries’ top leaders have a not insignificant amount of sway over the White House. But after a masked ICE agent killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, less than a month after federal agents also shot and killed Renee Good, many are still choosing to remain silent, showing just how tied to President The President’s administration Big Tech has become.

Now, their employees are piling on the pressure for their CEOs to speak out.

More than 800 tech workers from companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Salesforce have signed a letter urging their CEOs to wield their influence and call the White House to demand that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leave U.S. cities. 

“Tech professionals are speaking up against this brutality, and we call on all our colleagues who share our values to use their voice,” states the letter organized by ICEout.tech. “We know our industry leaders have leverage: in October, they persuaded The President to call off a planned ICE surge in San Francisco.”

The letter also calls on tech companies to end their contracts with ICE. AWS (Amazon Web Services) currently provides ICE with data storage services, while Motorola Solutions was awarded a $15.6 million contract in 2023 to “implement and maintain” ICE’s tactical communication infrastructure. 

In October, Apple and Google removed apps that alerted people when ICE agents were nearby. Even Palantir employees have started openly questioning the work the company is doing with the Department of Homeland Security, according to a recent Wired report.

Promised a friendlier regulatory environment, tech CEOs have largely stayed silent throughout The President’s second-term and have readily appeared at public events to promote the president’s agenda. 

As OpenAI’s head of global business, James Dyett noted on X: “There is far more outrage from tech leaders over a wealth tax than masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets.” He continued, “Tells you what you need to know about the values of our industry.”

Target, UnitedHealth, Best Buy and other Minnesota-based companies issued a joint statement Sunday, “calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions.”

The statement’s tentative language was met with criticism, failing to outright condemn the shooting of Pretti or Good or urge the administration to remove ICE from the Twin Cities. Still, experts say it was significant, and marks a “tipping point” in the situation.

While some have chosen to remain silent, other notable tech figures have used their platforms to speak out. 

Meredith Whittaker, the president of Signal, wrote: “To everyone in my industry who’s ever claimed to value freedom—draw on the courage of your convictions and stand up.”

Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla posted: “ICE personnel must have ice water running thru their veins to treat other human beings this way. There is politics but humanity should transcend that.”

Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah said he also felt compelled to say something. “I generally believe the best way I can serve the world is as a non-partisan expert, and my genuine beliefs are quite moderate,” he said on X.

“So the bar is very high for me to comment. But recent events—a federal agent killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation—shock the conscience.”

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