San Francisco: More than 1,400 employees at Salesforce have signed a letter urging Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff to cancel potential business dealings with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, according to people familiar with the matter.
The letter calls on Benioff to halt all current sales pitches and business “opportunities” involving ICE, particularly those linked to enforcement and recruitment activities.
Employees said they were concerned by reports that Salesforce had pitched artificial intelligence tools to ICE to help the agency speed up the hiring of 10,000 new agents and process tip-line reports.
The letter also asks Benioff to issue a public statement calling for the removal of masked ICE agents from U.S. cities and to provide transparency on what services Salesforce currently supplies to the agency.
Internal criticism after remarks
The letter follows reports that Benioff joked earlier this week about ICE agents being present at an employee event in Las Vegas. The comments reportedly sparked criticism from staff members in internal company forums.
Employees have asked Salesforce to pause or prohibit the use of its infrastructure, AI systems or software if they contribute to ICE expanding its operational capacity.
A supplementary document cited a media report stating that Salesforce described its platform as suitable for ICE recruitment during a government information request.
Broader employee concerns
The letter comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE following incidents in January in which ICE agents were involved in the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
It also reflects a wider trend of technology workers raising objections to their employers’ work with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Last week, hundreds of Google employees made similar calls for their company to sever ties with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Company response pending
Salesforce has not issued an official response to the letter. Organisers plan to formally deliver the document to Benioff by Friday, according to people familiar with the effort.
Salesforce shares are down about 27% so far in 2026, as investors weigh concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting traditional software business models.
