Salesforce Staff Demand CEO End ICE Pursuits Amid Internal Unrest

More than 1,400 Salesforce employees have signed a letter urging CEO Marc Benioff to terminate all potential business dealings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The internal document, confirmed by sources to CNBC, expresses alarm over reports that Salesforce is pitching AI tools to help ICE rapidly hire thousands of agents and screen tip-line information.

The letter demands Benioff cancel any active proposals for ICE enforcement and hiring contracts and make a public statement calling for the removal of masked federal agents from American cities. This organized push follows the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed by ICE agents in Minnesota this past January, an event that has heightened scrutiny of tech firms' ties to the agency.

Internal tensions flared earlier this week after Benioff made a joke about ICE's presence at a company event in Las Vegas, prompting criticism on internal Slack channels. Employees are now asking for full transparency on any existing services provided to ICE and a halt to any infrastructure or AI systems that could expand the agency's operational scale.

This pressure emerges during a challenging period for Salesforce. Its stock has declined roughly 27% this year as investors question how AI might impact traditional software growth. The company recently emphasized its government business while forecasting modest revenue growth.

The employee action mirrors similar movements at other tech giants; last week, 900 Google workers petitioned their company to divest from ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The Salesforce letter argues that opaque dealings with ICE expose employees to reputational risk and social targeting, while preventing them from understanding their work's implications.

Organizers intend to deliver the letter to Benioff by Friday. It references his past statement opposing National Guard deployment in San Francisco, contrasting it with a reported earlier support for a similar proposal from President Trump. The correspondence closes by invoking Benioff's own mantra that 'business is the greatest platform for change,' urging him to use that platform to protect community safety and constitutional rights.

Source: CNBC