Salesforce employees are demanding a public condemnation of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from CEO Marc Benioff, following his controversial jokes about the agency at a company event. The internal open letter urges Benioff to denounce ICE's 'unconstitutional conduct' and prevent Salesforce's technology from being used for immigration enforcement. This comes as employees are furious, citing past instances where Benioff's influence impacted policy.
The incident occurred during Salesforce's annual Company Kickoff in Las Vegas, where Benioff asked employees who had traveled from outside the US to stand up, then quipped that ICE agents were in the building keeping tabs on them. This joke reportedly caused a groan in the room, and employees flooded Slack channels with anger and disbelief. One employee wrote, 'It's hard to believe this company still has values when you make completely off-base jokes about ICE in your opening keynote.'
The backlash was swift, with employees questioning whether any apology could undo the damage. An open letter, circulated by employees, demands Benioff take a public stand against ICE, issuing a statement condemning ICE's 'unconstitutional conduct' and drawing clear 'red lines' to prevent the use of Salesforce's cloud and AI products for immigration enforcement. The letter also references the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, calling them a 'devastating indictment of a system that has discarded human decency.'
Benioff's influence in Washington adds weight to the debate, as noted in the letter. It references an episode last fall when Trump reportedly called off an ICE deployment in San Francisco after outreach from Bay Area tech leaders, including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Salesforce has not yet responded to requests for comment.
