Google Employees Unite in Bold Revolt Against ICE and CBP Contracts

In a stunning act of internal defiance, over 1,000 Google employees have signed an explosive open letter demanding the tech giant immediately cut all ties with US immigration enforcement agencies—specifically ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs & Border Protection). The coordinated action marks one of the most significant employee-led protests in Big Tech’s recent history, as workers directly challenge their employer’s lucrative government contracts.

The letter, published on the website Googlers Against ICE, pulls no punches in its condemnation. “In cities across the country we have witnessed these agencies conducting paramilitary-style raids, kidnapping hundreds of civilians, and murdering protestors and legal observers,” the employees write. They accuse Google of providing the technological backbone for what they describe as a “campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression.”

What makes this protest particularly striking is the specificity of the allegations. The letter details how Google’s products are allegedly being weaponized by immigration enforcement:

• Google Cloud forms the backbone of CBP’s national surveillance network
• The Google Play Store is blocking ICE tracking apps
• YouTube runs ICE advertisements encouraging immigrants to “self-deport”

“As the workers who provide the foundational labor in building this technology, we are horrified,” the letter states. “We consider it our leadership’s ethical and policy-bound responsibility to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships.”

The employees have laid out four concrete demands:

1. Public acknowledgment from Google leadership about the danger federal agents pose to all US workers
2. Transparent responses to employee questions about existing contracts with government agencies
3. Establishment of worker safety measures across all Google campuses
4. Creation of “red lines” around what contracts will be allowed in the future

While 1,000 signatures represent only a fraction of Google’s global workforce of approximately 183,000 employees, organized dissent within a tech giant can create massive operational disruptions. This internal conflict exposes a widening chasm between Google’s financial interests and its once-vaunted ethical principles.

The stakes are enormous. Google derives the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, meaning cutting a handful of government contracts wouldn’t significantly impact its bottom line. However, the political ramifications could be severe. Severing ties with ICE and CBP on ethical grounds would almost certainly trigger retaliatory federal action—including antitrust investigations, regulatory harassment, and loss of exclusive contracts. Such a move would divide Google’s user base and potentially rupture its symbiotic relationship with the state.

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo with employee protests over military and government contracts. In 2024, 200 workers developing Google’s DeepMind signed a letter calling for the company to drop contracts with military organizations, specifically citing work with the Israeli military on surveillance and target selection. Back in 2018, more than 3,100 Google employees penned an open letter protesting Project Maven, a Pentagon program using AI to analyze drone strike footage.

“We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” they wrote in 2018, adding that in the face of “growing fears of biased and weaponized AI, Google is already struggling to keep the public’s trust.”

The current protest against ICE and CBP contracts represents a continuation of this internal struggle, as employees push back against what they see as the company prioritizing profit over principles. As tensions between Silicon Valley and Washington continue to escalate, this revolt may be just the beginning of a broader reckoning about the role of technology companies in government surveillance and enforcement operations.

More on Google: The Department of Homeland Security Is Demanding That Google Turn Over Information About Random Critics

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