More than 1,000 Google employees have signed an internal petition calling on the company to sever its purported ties with US immigration enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The letter asserts that Google’s technology is being used to support surveillance operations and violence associated with federal immigration enforcement activities. It cites the deaths of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, claiming that Google Cloud infrastructure underpins CBP surveillance systems throughout the US and along the southern border, and also facilitates Palantir’s ImmigrationOS platform, which ICE uses to track immigrants.
Employees have further claimed that Google’s generative AI tools are being utilized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP to boost workforce productivity and streamline operations. The petition also takes aim at Google-owned platforms, alleging that the Play Store has limited access to applications meant to monitor ICE activity, while YouTube has reportedly hosted advertisements promoting ICE recruitment and self-deportation messaging. Google has not publicly responded to the petition. “As the people building these systems, we are deeply disturbed by how this technology is being used,” the letter reads.
What are the demands of the employees?
Titled “Googlers Demand: Worker Safety & ICE Contract Transparency,” the letter encourages employees to gather additional support before presenting it to company leadership. The signatories contend that Google has a moral and policy responsibility to fully disclose all contracts and collaborations with DHS, ICE, and CBP, and to exit from partnerships they claim enable state violence and repression.
Among their demands, employees are urging leadership to acknowledge the risks and harm faced by workers across the US, and to advocate for urgent public responses, including community-based measures such as school closures and mutual aid efforts during periods of unrest. They are also requesting an emergency, US-based town hall or live Q&A session with executives overseeing government contracts. The session, they specify, should be recorded and conducted without AI-generated summaries or consolidated questions.
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Additionally, workers are seeking expanded safety protections for all Google employees, including contractors and support staff. These measures include flexible remote work options and access to legal and immigration assistance. Finally, the petition demands clear boundaries on how Google’s AI and cloud products can be used by government agencies, along with full transparency into how DHS entities may be misusing these tools.
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