Over 880 Google employees signed a petition demanding the company cancel any contracts with US immigration agencies amid growing concerns about technology being used for state violence.
Minneapolis : More than 880 people who work at Google signed a letter this week. They want the company to stop working with US immigration groups like ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
The workers say they do not want the computer tools they make to be used for hurting people. Two workers spoke to reporters but did not give their full names. They said the company should not help groups that use force against people.
ICE and CBP have been in the news a lot this year. The Trump group made ICE arrest many people. This led to big protests in cities. In Minneapolis, some protests ended with US workers shooting people. Videos of these events made many people angry.
Google did not talk about what the workers want. But a company person said the computer tools at issue are normal ones any customer could use. The immigration groups have paid tech companies a lot of money for software and other tech gear in the past.
In 2019, nearly 1,500 Google workers signed a similar letter about working with border groups. More recently, workers at Google’s AI team asked bosses how they would stop ICE from coming into their offices.
Workers at other tech firms like Amazon and Palantir have also raised concerns. Over 1,000 people in the tech world signed a letter last month asking firms to stop helping ICE. The new petition at Google wants the company to at least talk about these issues.