^{Photo: BBC}

Employee Pressure Intensifies Inside Google

A growing wave of internal dissent is building at Google after more than 900 employees signed an open letter calling on the company to sever its relationships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The letter reflects rising concern among workers over Google’s role in supporting federal immigration enforcement agencies during a period of heightened violence and political tension.

The signatories are urging Google’s leadership to publicly disclose all contracts and collaborations with ICE and CBP and to fully divest from those relationships, arguing that the company’s technology is being used in ways that conflict with its stated values.

Allegations of Technology Enabling Surveillance

In the letter, employees accuse Google of contributing to what they describe as a system of surveillance and repression. They cite Google Cloud’s reported involvement in supporting CBP surveillance infrastructure and its role in powering Palantir’s ImmigrationOS platform, a system used by ICE to track, detain, and deport immigrants.

The workers also claim that Google’s generative AI tools are being used by CBP and criticize decisions related to the Google Play Store that allegedly limited access to apps designed to track ICE activity. According to the letter, these actions amount to material support for agencies accused of committing human rights abuses.

Reaction to Recent Deaths and Rising Violence

The letter references recent killings linked to ICE enforcement actions, naming individuals including Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti. Employees describe themselves as “appalled” and “horrified,” stating that Google’s continued partnerships make the company complicit in violence carried out by state authorities.

“Google is powering this campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression,” the letter states, using unusually direct language that underscores the intensity of employee anger.

Calls for Transparency and Worker Protections

Beyond divestment, employees are demanding a series of internal reforms. These include an emergency company-wide Q&A session to address Google’s contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and military-linked agencies, as well as clearer disclosure of how Google technologies are deployed by government clients.

The letter also calls for stronger protections for workers who may be directly affected by immigration enforcement. Proposed measures include expanded work-from-home flexibility, legal and immigration support resources, and explicit safeguards for employees who feel unsafe due to ICE activity.

Leadership Statements Cited by Employees

The letter quotes a social media post by Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean from early January, in which he wrote that “we all bear a collective responsibility to speak up and not be silent” in response to recent events. Employees argue that this sentiment should be reflected in Google’s corporate actions, not just public statements.

“We consider it our leadership’s ethical and policy-bound responsibility to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships,” the letter reads.

Part of a Broader Tech Industry Movement

The action at Google is part of a wider push by tech workers across the industry to challenge corporate involvement with immigration enforcement. Just weeks earlier, employees from companies including Amazon, Meta, Spotify, and others signed a similar letter demanding that ICE be removed from U.S. cities and calling on executives to take a public stand against federal immigration policies.

These coordinated efforts highlight a growing divide between tech company leadership and segments of their workforce over government contracts, ethical responsibility, and the social impact of advanced technology.

Google Yet to Respond

As of publication, Google had not issued a public response to the letter or addressed whether it plans to review its contracts with ICE or CBP. The silence has further fueled frustration among employees, many of whom see this moment as a test of whether corporate commitments to ethics and human rights carry real weight.

With employee activism on the rise and scrutiny of government-tech partnerships intensifying, pressure on Google and its peers is unlikely to fade anytime soon.

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