Nearly a thousand Google workers sign letter urging company to divest from ICE, CBP

Greater than 900 Google workers have signed an open letter condemning current actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Safety (CBP), urging the tech big to disclose its dealings with the businesses and divest from them.

The letter, citing current ICE killings of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, stated that the workers are “appalled by the violence” and “horrified” by Google’s half in it.

“Google is powering this marketing campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression,” the letter reads.

It goes on to cite that Google Cloud is aiding CBP surveillance and powering Palantir’s ImmigrationOS system, which is utilized by ICE. The letter states that Google’s generative synthetic intelligence is utilized by CBP and that the Google Play Retailer has blocked ICE monitoring apps.

The letter additionally quotes a social media put up by Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean from early January, who wrote, “All of us bear a collective duty to converse up and never be silent once we see issues just like the occasions of the final week.”

“We’re vehemently opposed to Google’s partnerships with DHS, CBP, and ICE,” the workers wrote. “We contemplate it our management’s moral and policy-bound duty to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships.”

The letter calls on Google to acknowledge the hazard that workers face from ICE, host an emergency inner Q&A on the company’s DHS and army contracts, implement security measures to defend workers — reminiscent of versatile work-from-home insurance policies and immigration help — and reveal its ties with the federal government businesses to assist all concerned decide the place the company will draw a line.

“As workers of conscience, we demand that our management finish our backslide into contracting for governments enacting violence in opposition to civilians,” the letter reads. “Google is now a outstanding node in a shameful lineage of personal corporations profiting from violent state repression. We should use this second to come collectively as a Googler neighborhood and demand an finish to this disgraceful use of our labor.”

Google didn’t instantly reply to a CNBC request for remark.

The letter comes as staff place mounting stress on tech CEOs to converse out in opposition to ICE. Simply two weeks prior, staff representing Amazon, Spotify, Meta and extra wrote a comparable letter demanding ICE “out of our cities.”