Tech Workers Urge CEOs to Act Against ICE Following Alex Pretti’s Killing

Minneapolis: More than 450 tech workers, from companies like Google and Meta, signed a letter. They want their CEOs to ask the White House to get ICE out of U.S. cities. The letter talks about how ICE has sent agents into cities, making many people afraid. Some cities, like Minneapolis, have seen confrontations between ICE and local residents.

In the past three weeks, ICE agents have caused two deaths, including that of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse. Tech workers believe the tech industry can help change this situation. They remind leaders that in October, when Trump threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco, tech leaders asked for action, and it worked.

Many tech leaders have spoken out. Reid Hoffman, one of the founders of LinkedIn, says ICE’s actions are harmful to people. Others, like the CEO of OpenAI, believe it is wrong that more tech leaders are upset about a wealth tax than about ICE’s actions. Some are worried that people in tech who care about freedom aren’t speaking up.

The letter also asks tech CEOs to stop working with ICE. This may be tough because some companies have contracts with ICE, like Palantir, which has a big surveillance project. Many tech firms provide services to ICE, like cloud storage.

TechCrunch has tried to get comments from these companies.