An open letter has been published with a request from more than 450 employees of the largest technology firms in the United States such as Apple, Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, directed to their respective CEOs, demanding that they reach out to the White House and urge the Trump administration to order Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to vacate all US City jails.
The letter was initiated by a group of people that is known as ICEout.Tech. This initiative followed the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who was shot dead by federal officers in Minneapolis, MN, on January 24.
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Cite example of San Francisco
US workers are citing the example of San Francisco where tech executives united against the proposed action by the Federal government, resulting in Trump backing down as an example to show the Federal government that they should be pressured to back down as well. They also referenced multiple scenes in other cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, which have all experienced "terror and cruelty without any end in sight".
"For months now, Trump has sent federal agents to our cities to criminalise us, our neighbours, friends, colleagues, and family members," reads the open letter from IceOut.Tech. "From Minneapolis to Los Angeles to Chicago, we've seen armed and masked thugs bring reckless violence, kidnapping, terror and cruelty with no end in sight."
In Minneapolis, two individuals were killed within a month's time: Renee Good, who was shot by ICE agents on January 7 and 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at Minneapolis VA hospital, who was shot by Border Patrol agents on January 24.
Here is the full letter from ICEout.tech dated January 24, 2026:
"We condemn the Border Patrol’s killing of Alex Pretti and the violent surge of federal agents across our cities. The wanton brutality we’ve seen from ICE and CBP has removed any credibility that these actions are about immigration enforcement. Their goal is terror, cruelty, and suppression of dissent. This must end.
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Tech professionals are speaking up against this brutality, and we call on all our colleagues who share our values to use their voice. We know our industry leaders have leverage: in October, they persuaded Trump to call off a planned ICE surge in San Francisco, and big tech CEOs are in the White House tonight. Now they need to go further, and join us in demanding ICE out of all of our cities."
ICEout.tech Pledge:
"We are tech industry professionals in the United States.
We all witnessed ICE brutally kill a US citizen on the streets of Minneapolis. Then, the Trump administration brazenly lied about what happened.
We didn’t get here overnight. For months now, Trump has sent federal agents to our cities to criminalize us, our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and family members. From Minneapolis to Los Angeles to Chicago, we’ve seen armed and masked thugs bring reckless violence, kidnapping, terror and cruelty with no end in sight.
This cannot continue, and we know the tech industry can make a difference. When Trump threatened to send the national guard to San Francisco in October, tech industry leaders called the White House. It worked: Trump backed down.
Today we’re calling on our CEOs to pick up the phone again:
1. Call the White House and demand that ICE leave our cities.
2. Cancel all company contracts with ICE.
3. Speak out publicly against ICE’s violence.
We want to be proud to work in tech. We want to be proud of the companies we work for. We can and must use our leverage to end this violence."
The identity of the authors of the letter has not been revealed, as many individuals who signed it did on an anonymous basis due to fear of retaliation. TechCrunch has attempted to contact the authors of the letter for clarification.
Prominent members raise voices
Many prominent members of the tech community have expressed disagreement with actions taken by federal law enforcement agencies in Minneapolis. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman stated that the methods used by ICE are "terrible for people". Vinod Khosla, creator of Khosla Ventures, described the actions of the current federal administration as "macho ICE vigilantes running amuck empowered by a conscious-less administration".
Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist at Google DeepMind, urged “every person regardless of political views", to denounce the increasing violence. James Dyett, OpenAI's leader in international business, has called out the industry for its silence on this issue. His post on X indicated that tech leaders are far more upset about a proposed tax on wealth than they are about "masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets".
