Over 880 employees and contractors working for Google signed a petition this week calling on the company to disclose and cancel any contracts it may have with U.S. immigration authorities. IN letter disclosed on Friday, employees expressed that they “strongly oppose” Google’s relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“We oppose the use of technology we have developed to fuel state violence around the world,” a Google software engineer, who declined to give his name for fear of retaliation, told reporters on Friday.
“I want to profit from other people’s suffering, which I find disgusting, and I don’t want to be a silent participant in this system,” added the second Google employee, Alex.
Google declined to comment on the petition’s demands. However, a company spokesman, who requested anonymity for fear of his safety, says the technologies in question are basic computing and data storage technologies available to every customer.
U.S. immigration authorities have come under intense public scrutiny this year as the Trump administration stepped up a campaign of mass deportations, sparking nationwide protests. In Minneapolis, clashes between protesters and federal agents ended with the fatal shooting of two US citizens by immigration officers. Both incidents were captured in widely distributed videos and became the focus of a backlash. In the wake of the uproar, the Trump administration and Congress said they were negotiating changes to ICE tactics.
Some of the Department of Homeland Security’s most lucrative contracts involve software and technology hardware from a variety of vendors. A miniature minority of employees at some of these vendors, including Google, Amazon and Palantir, have for years expressed concerns about whether the technology they were developing was being used for surveillance or violence.
In 2019, nearly 1,500 employees worked at Google signed the petition demanding that the tech giant suspend cooperation with Customs and Border Protection until the agency stops engaging in what they believe are human rights violations. Recently, employees at Google’s artificial intelligence division asked executives to explain how they will prevent ICE raids on their offices. (No response was immediately provided to staff.)
According to WIRED, Palantir employees recently raised questions internally about the company’s cooperation with ICE. Last month, more than 1,000 people in the tech industry signed a letter calling on the companies to leave the agency.
Technology companies have largely either defended their work on behalf of the federal government or rejected the notion that they are helping it in troubling ways. Some government contracts are handled through intermediaries, making it arduous for employees to determine what tools the agency is using and for what purposes.
A up-to-date Google petition aims to put renewed pressure on the company to at least acknowledge recent events and any cooperation it may have with immigration authorities. It was organized by No Tech for Apartheid, a group of Google and Amazon employees who oppose what they call technological militarism, the integration of corporate technology platforms, cloud services and artificial intelligence with military and surveillance systems.
Specifically, the petition asks Google’s leadership to publicly call on the U.S. government to make urgent changes to its immigration enforcement tactics and to hold an internal discussion with employees about the principles that guide its decision to sell technology to state governments. It also requires Google to take additional steps to ensure the safety of its employees, noting that immigration agents recently attacked an area near the Meta data center under construction.
Update: 2/6/25 12:00 PM EST: This story has been updated with comments from two Google employees and a company spokesperson.