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Employees at Salesforce are circulating an internal letter to chief executive Marc Benioff calling on him to denounce recent actions by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prohibit the use of Salesforce software by immigration agents, and back federal legislation that would significantly reform the agency.<\/p>\n
The letter specifically cites the \u201crecent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis\u201d as catalysts, calling them the \u201cdevastating indictment of a system that has discarded human decency.\u201d It\u2019s unclear how many signatories the letter has received so far.<\/p>\n
The letter, which has not been reported on previously, is being organized amid Salesforce\u2019s annual leadership kickoff event this week in Las Vegas. During an appearance at the event earlier today, Benioff asked international employees to stand to thank them for attending. He then joked that ICE agents were in the building monitoring them, according to current and former Salesforce employees who spoke to WIRED.<\/p>\n
Benioff\u2019s remarks sparked immediate backlash among employees. \u201cLots of people are furious,\u201d says one source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Another source tells WIRED that the internal pushback today was significantly more forceful than after Benioff made other controversial comments last fall supporting President Trump\u2019s call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to address crime.<\/p>\n
Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED. Business Insider and 404 Media previously reported on Benioff\u2019s remarks and the reaction to them inside Salesforce.<\/p>\n
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| Are you a current or former Salesforce employee who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at ChaoticGoode.12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \u201cWe are deeply troubled by leaked documentation revealing that Salesforce has pitched AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency \u2018expeditiously\u2019 hire 10,000 new agents and vet tip-line reports,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cProviding \u2018Agentforce\u2019 infrastructure to scale a mass deportation agenda that currently detains 66,000 people\u201473 percent of whom have no criminal record\u2014represents a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to the ethical use of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter argues that Benioff\u2019s voice \u201ccarries unique weight in Washington,\u201d pointing to an episode last fall when Trump called off an ICE deployment in San Francisco after what appeared to be outreach from Bay Area tech leaders, including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. It urges Benioff to use that influence as a \u201ccorporate statesman\u201d to issue a public statement condemning what it calls ICE\u2019s unconstitutional conduct and to commit Salesforce to clear \u201cred lines\u201d barring the use of its cloud and AI products for state violence.<\/p>\n Benioff has weighed in on both national and local political issues for years. He supported Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 and later became one of the most high-profile backers of Proposition C, a failed San Francisco ballot measure that would have raised taxes to fund programs to address homelessness. In 2020, he donated to the primary campaigns of some Democratic presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n But since Trump returned to the White House in January, Benioff has signaled greater support for some Republican leaders. In one interview, he said he strives to stay nonpartisan because he also owns Time magazine. But he also joked that, while he declined to contribute to Trump\u2019s inauguration fund directly, he had \u201cdonated\u201d a photo of the president on the magazine's cover, which named him its 2024 Person of the Year. \u201cHe can use the Time magazine cover for free,\u201d Benioff said in the interview with Fortune.<\/p>\n Benioff also faced backlash from Salesforce employees last fall when he suggested the National Guard should be sent to San Francisco to tackle crime ahead of the company\u2019s annual conference in the city. He later apologized for the remarks, explaining they stemmed from genuine concerns about safety. He later reversed his stance and joined Nvidia\u2019s Huang in asking Trump to refrain from sending troops.<\/p>\n That incident occurred as Salesforce was reportedly pitching its technology to ICE, touting that it could be used to help the agency achieve its goal to \u201cnearly triple its work force by hiring 10,000 new officers and agents expeditiously.\u201d<\/p>\n Salesforce has lost a number of top executives in recent weeks. Last month, WIRED reported that Denise Dresser, CEO of the Salesforce-owned corporate messaging app Slack, was leaving to become OpenAI\u2019s chief revenue officer. Ryan Aytay, a 19-year Salesforce veteran who was formerly Benioff\u2019s chief of staff and most recently led the company's visualization platform Tableau, also announced his departure last week.<\/p>\n Adam Evans, who was executive vice president and general manager of AI at Salesforce and helped lead its Agentforce platform, recently left his role, too. And on Monday, AMD announced that Ariel Kelman, Salesforce\u2019s president and chief marketing officer, was starting a similar job at the semiconductor giant.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Paresh Dave.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story Employees at Salesforce are circulating an internal letter to chief executive Marc Benioff calling on him to denounce recent actions by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prohibit the use of Salesforce software by immigration agents, and back federal legislation that would significantly reform the agency. 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