Employees in Google DeepMind has asked company management for plans and policies to ensure “physical security” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while on company property, according to screenshots of internal messages obtained by WIRED.
On Monday morning, two days after federal agents shot and killed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti, a Google DeepMind employee sent the following message on an internal message board to the company’s approximately 3,000-person artificial intelligence department:
“U.S.-focused question: What is GDM doing to keep us physically safe from ICE? The events of the past week have shown that immigration status, citizenship, and even the law are no deterrent to detention, violence, and even death at the hands of federal agents.”
He continues: “What plans and policies are in place to keep us safe in the office? On the way to and from work? As we have seen, government agency tactics can change and escalate quite quickly. With offices in multiple metropolitan areas across the United States, are we prepared?”
The message received over 20 “plus emoji” reactions from Google DeepMind employees.
As of Monday evening, no senior Google leaders had responded to the news. In fact, Google’s top management – including CEO Sundar Pichai and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis – have remained quiet about Pretti’s murder even within the company, sources said.
The news highlights some of the latest divisions forming between artificial intelligence companies and their employees over the Trump administration’s deployment of federal immigration agents to America. While Silicon Valley CEOs have largely bent the knee to Trump, their employees have begun to raise concerns internally and externally about the federal government’s actions.
Google DeepMind’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, is one of the industry’s most outspoken critics of ICE. In write to X On Sunday, he responded to the video of Pretti’s shooting by saying, “It’s absolutely disgraceful.”
Employees at defense technology company Palantir are questioning the company’s decision to cooperate with ICE. WIRED previously reported that one Palantir employee wrote on Slack: “I think ICE are the bad guys. I’m not proud that the company I love working for so much is a part of it.”
Employees at artificial intelligence labs that work with Palantir – including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Meta – also weighed whether to urge leaders to cut ties with the defense technology company. New York Times reported.
Concerns about ICE agents entering Google offices are not unfounded. In a message obtained by WIRED, another Google DeepMind employee expressed concerns about an alleged attempt by a federal agent to enter the company’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, office in the fall.
Google’s chief security and risk officer responded to this message to explain what happened. They noted that “the officer arrived at the reception without notice” and that the agent “was not allowed entry because he did not have a warrant and left immediately.”
Google declined to comment.
Google is one of many Silicon Valley companies that employs thousands of highly skilled foreign workers, many of whom are in the United States on visas. In featherlight of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, these companies had something to offer increased security for many of its employees. At the end of last year, Google and Apple advised workers on visas not to leave the country after the White House tightened vetting of visa applicants.
At the time, Silicon Valley leaders were not shy defense of visa programsthat allowed the United States to bring in top talent from around the world.
However, AI executives seem hesitant to comment on the federal government’s latest actions on immigration. Outside of Google, top executives from Silicon Valley companies – including OpenAI, Meta, xAI, Apple and Amazon – have yet to publicly comment on ICE’s actions. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, he referred to the Minnesota incident in an internal message to the company DealBooktelling employees that “what is happening with ICE is going too far.”