Silicon Valley is facing a growing internal revolt as hundreds of employees demand their billionaire bosses stop cozying up to the White House and start pushing back against federal immigration tactics.
The movement, organized under the banner ICEout.tech, comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis last Saturday.
Pretti’s death occurred less than a month after another US citizen, Renee Good, was killed by ICE agents in the same city.
More than 450 workers from giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI have signed an open letter with three specific demands for their leadership:
- Call the White House to demand ICE leave US cities.
- Cancel all company contracts with ICE.
- Speak out publicly against the agency’s violence.
The letter highlights a successful precedent from October, when tech leaders reportedly persuaded President Donald Trump to call off a planned National Guard surge in San Francisco.
“Today we’re calling on our CEOs to pick up the phone again,” the ICEout.tech statement reads. “We want to be proud to work in tech. We want to be proud of the companies we work for. We can and must use our leverage to end this violence.”
A contrast in responses
While employees agitate, the industry’s most powerful figures have remained largely silent. This stands in stark contrast to Trump’s first term, when CEOs frequently condemned travel bans and social policies.
Today, the political climate in the valley has shifted. Leaders like Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg have recently focused on building ties with the administration, attending White House screenings, and donating to inauguration funds.
However, a few prominent voices in the research and executive community are breaking ranks.
Google DeepMind Chief Scientist Jeff Dean posted on X: “This is absolutely shameful. Agents of a federal agency unnecessarily escalating, and then executing a defenseless citizen whose offense appears to be using his cell phone camera. Every person regardless of political affiliation should be denouncing this.”
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman wrote that it was time for all Americans to speak out, while Meta’s former chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, simply posted “Murderers” on X.
Several tech leaders noted they typically avoid political commentary but felt compelled to break that silence.
“I generally believe the best way I can serve the world is as a non-partisan expert, and my genuine beliefs are quite moderate,” Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah wrote on X. “So the bar is very high for me to comment. But recent events — a federal agent killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation — shock the conscience.”
Browser Company CEO Josh Miller added, “Our government executed a man yesterday. I am deeply sad for his parents, and hope this serves as a unifying moment for all of us.”
Rising risks for workers
Many petition signers chose to remain anonymous, citing fear of professional retaliation. Of the more than 450 signatures, only about 270 include names — the rest list only job titles or companies.
For many signatories, the protest is a gamble. In 2024, Google fired over two dozen employees following sit-ins related to Israeli military contracts, signaling a lower tolerance for “cubicle activism.”
Anne Diemer, the HR consultant who organized the petition, noted that many signed anonymously. “They don’t want to be in the next round of layoffs; they need their health insurance,” Diemer told USA TODAY. “But I do think there are a lot of people who don’t agree with tech’s alignment with the administration.”
Also read: TikTok faces legal action in the UK after moderators said layoffs hit just before a union vote.
