Salesforce employees are circulating an internal letter to CEO Marc Benioff urging him to condemn recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ban immigration agents from using Salesforce software and support federal legislation that would significantly reform the agency.
The letter cites “the recent murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis” as a catalyst, calling it “a devastating indictment of a system that has rejected human decency.” It is unclear how many signatories have received the letter so far.
The letter, which has not been previously reported, was released this week in Las Vegas as part of Salesforce’s annual launch event for leadership. According to current and former Salesforce employees who spoke to WIRED, during an appearance at an event today, Benioff asked international employees to stand and thank them for coming, then joked that ICE agents were in the building monitoring them.
Benioff’s comments sparked an immediate backlash among employees. “Many people are angry,” says one source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Business expert AND 404 Media We previously reported on Benioff’s comments and the response they received at Salesforce.
“We are deeply troubled by leaked documentation revealing that Salesforce provided artificial intelligence technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency “rapidly” hire 10,000 novel agents and verify reports,” the letter reads. “Providing the ‘Agentforce’ infrastructure to scale a mass deportation program that currently detains 66,000 people – 73 percent of whom have no criminal record – is a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to ethical operate technology.”
The letter argues that Benioff’s voice “carries unique weight in Washington,” pointing to an episode last fall when Trump canceled ICE’s deployment to San Francisco after what appeared to be actions by Bay Area tech leaders including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. It calls on Benioff to use his influence as a “corporate statesman” to issue a public statement condemning what he calls unconstitutional conduct by ICE, and to require Salesforce to remove “red lines” prohibiting the use of its cloud and artificial intelligence products to commit violence against the state.
Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.