Google employees accuse company of enabling ICE surveillance

• Over 900 Google employees urge company to cut ties with US immigration agencies
• Letter highlights Google’s role in ICE and CBP surveillance tools
• Employees demand disclosure of contracts and more support for affected workers

More than 900 Google employees have signed an open letter condemning recent actions by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, calling on the company to disclose its ties to the agencies and sever those relationships altogether. The letter adds to growing pressure on major tech firms to rethink their involvement with US immigration enforcement.

The letter, addressed to Google leadership, cites the recent killings of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, describing employees as “appalled by the violence” and “horrified” by what they see as Google’s role in enabling it.

“Google is powering this campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression,” the letter states, accusing the company of providing critical infrastructure to agencies accused of widespread human rights abuses.

Employees specifically point to Google Cloud’s involvement in CBP surveillance operations and its role in powering Palantir’s ImmigrationOS system, which is used by ICE. The letter also claims that Google’s generative AI tools are being used by CBP and that the Google Play Store has blocked apps designed to track ICE activity, a move critics argue limits public oversight of government enforcement actions.

The workers quote a January social media post by Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, who wrote, “We all bear a collective responsibility to speak up and not be silent when we see things like the events of the last week.” The letter argues that this responsibility should apply to Google’s own business decisions.

“We are vehemently opposed to Google’s partnerships with DHS, CBP, and ICE,” the employees wrote. They called on company leadership to disclose all contracts and collaborations with the agencies and to divest from them entirely.

Beyond divestment, the letter demands concrete steps to protect Google workers who may be affected by immigration enforcement. These include hosting an emergency internal Q&A focused on Google’s government and military contracts, implementing additional safety measures such as flexible work-from-home policies, and expanding immigration-related support for employees and their families.

“As workers of conscience, we demand that our leadership end our backslide into contracting for governments enacting violence against civilians,” the letter reads. “Google is now a prominent node in a shameful lineage of private companies profiting from violent state repression.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter follows similar actions across the tech industry. Just two weeks earlier, employees from companies including Amazon, Spotify, and Meta signed a joint letter calling for ICE to be kept “out of our cities,” signalling a broader employee-led movement pushing tech leaders to take public stances on immigration enforcement and government surveillance.