A coalition of over 800 technology sector employees is urging the chief executives of major firms to leverage their influence with the federal administration. The workers are calling for a demand to withdraw Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel from urban areas and to terminate all corporate contracts with the agency.
The petition cites a precedent from last autumn, when executive intervention is believed to have halted a planned enforcement operation in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Our industry’s leaders have demonstrated they possess the leverage to affect policy,” the document states. “The moment has come to use that influence comprehensively, to insist that ICE operations cease in our communities.”
Signatories to the appeal include nearly one hundred Google staffers, along with dozens from Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI. The list also features a senior vice president from Tesla.
This organized push follows a recent incident in Minneapolis, where a 37-year-old nurse was fatally shot during an ICE operation. The event has provoked condemnation from a broad spectrum of organizations, including professional nursing unions, online communities, and certain conservative-aligned groups.
Industry observers note that technology executives occupy a distinctive position to sway government action, a notion underscored by last year’s events. Following appeals from several prominent CEOs, a planned enforcement surge was reportedly canceled.
Current responses from corporate leadership have been mixed. The CEO of Anthropic publicly emphasized the “defense of democratic principles and civil liberties” this week. A senior OpenAI executive commented on social media about a perceived disparity in the industry’s priorities, suggesting greater outcry over fiscal policies than over enforcement actions.
However, other high-profile leaders, including the CEOs of OpenAI, Nvidia, and Apple, have not made public statements regarding the recent shooting. The Apple CEO was among a group of tech executives who attended a private White House event over the weekend.
This mobilization marks a shift in posture from many within the tech workforce, who had remained largely apolitical during the current administration’s first year. One researcher involved in the petition warned of broader consequences, noting the difficulty of pursuing advanced technological work in an environment marked by street-level violence and instability. “The risk is increasing,” the researcher wrote, “and contingency plans are necessary.”