Salesforce Employees Demand CEO Marc Benioff Take Stand Against ICE After Controversial Remarks

A growing internal rebellion is brewing at Salesforce, as employees circulate a strongly worded letter to CEO Marc Benioff demanding he publicly denounce ICE’s recent actions and prohibit the company’s software from being used by immigration enforcement agents.

The letter, which has not been previously reported, comes in the wake of Benioff’s controversial “joke” during Salesforce’s annual leadership kickoff event in Las Vegas this week. According to multiple current and former employees who spoke to WIRED, Benioff asked international employees to stand and thank them for attending, then quipped that ICE agents were monitoring them in the building.

The remark sparked immediate and intense backlash among Salesforce staff. “Lots of people are furious,” said one source who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. Another source told WIRED that the internal pushback was significantly more forceful than after Benioff’s previous controversial comments last fall supporting President Trump’s call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco.

The internal letter specifically cites the “recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis” as catalysts for action, describing them as a “devastating indictment of a system that has discarded human decency.” While it’s unclear how many signatories the letter has received so far, the organizers are mobilizing during a critical moment for the company.

AI Technology and Immigration Enforcement

At the heart of employees’ concerns is leaked documentation revealing that Salesforce has pitched AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency “expeditiously” hire 10,000 new agents and vet tip-line reports. The letter argues this represents a fundamental betrayal of Salesforce’s commitment to ethical technology use.

“Providing ‘Agentforce’ infrastructure to scale a mass deportation agenda that currently detains 66,000 people—73 percent of whom have no criminal record—represents a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to the ethical use of technology,” the letter states.

The employees are calling on Benioff to use his considerable influence in Washington, pointing to an episode last fall when Trump appeared to call off an ICE deployment in San Francisco after outreach from Bay Area tech leaders, including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. They argue that Benioff’s voice “carries unique weight” and urge him to use that influence as a “corporate statesman.”

Benioff’s Political Evolution Under Scrutiny

The controversy highlights the evolving political positioning of one of tech’s most prominent CEOs. Benioff has long been known for his outspoken political stances, supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 and becoming a high-profile backer of Proposition C, a failed San Francisco ballot measure that would have raised taxes to fund programs addressing homelessness.

In 2020, he donated to primary campaigns of several Democratic presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris. However, since Trump’s return to the White House in January, Benioff has signaled greater support for some Republican leaders.

In a recent interview, Benioff said he strives to stay nonpartisan because he also owns Time magazine. Yet he also joked that while he declined to contribute to Trump’s inauguration fund directly, he had “donated” a photo of the president on the magazine’s cover, which named him its 2024 Person of the Year. “He can use the Time magazine cover for free,” Benioff said in the interview with Fortune.

Pattern of Controversial Statements

This latest controversy follows a pattern of Benioff making statements that have sparked internal dissent. Last fall, he suggested the National Guard should be sent to San Francisco to tackle crime ahead of the company’s annual conference in the city. He later apologized for the remarks, explaining they stemmed from genuine concerns about safety, and ultimately reversed his stance, joining Nvidia’s Huang in asking Trump to refrain from sending troops.

The timing of this internal rebellion is particularly significant as it coincides with Salesforce’s major leadership event, where the company sets its strategic direction for the coming year. The optics of employees publicly challenging their CEO’s positions on such a sensitive political issue could have significant ramifications for both company morale and public perception.

Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED, though the story has since been picked up by Business Insider and 404 Media, which previously reported on Benioff’s remarks and the reaction to them inside Salesforce.

The letter demands that Benioff issue a public statement condemning what it calls ICE’s unconstitutional conduct and commit Salesforce to clear “red lines” barring the use of its cloud and AI products for state violence. As pressure mounts, all eyes are on how Benioff will respond to this unprecedented challenge from within his own ranks.

Tags and Viral Phrases:

Salesforce employee rebellion, Marc Benioff ICE controversy, tech workers protest immigration, Agentforce AI technology, mass deportation technology, corporate responsibility, ethical AI use, Silicon Valley political divide, Salesforce internal conflict, CEO political backlash, immigration enforcement technology, tech industry activism, employee activism, corporate social responsibility, ICE software ban demand, Salesforce leadership crisis, Marc Benioff political evolution, tech workers unionizing, ethical technology boundaries, corporate influence on immigration policy

,