Employees at Salesforce circulate an internal letter to the general manager Marc Benioff calling on him to denounce the recent actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementban the use of Salesforce software by immigration agents, and support federal legislation that would significantly reform the agency.
The letter specifically cites the “recent murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis” as catalysts, calling them “a devastating indictment of a system that has rejected human decency.” It is unclear how many signatories the letter has received so far.
The letter, which has not been previously reported, is being held this week as part of Salesforce’s annual Leadership Launch event in Las Vegas. During an appearance at the event earlier in the day, Benioff asked international employees to stand to thank them for attending. He then joked that ICE agents were in the building watching them, according to current and former Salesforce employees who spoke to WIRED.
Benioff’s remarks sparked an immediate backlash among employees. “A lot of people are furious,” said one source, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. Another source told WIRED that the internal reaction today was significantly stronger than after Benioff made other controversial comments last fall supporting President Trump’s call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to fight crime.
Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED. Business Insider And 404 Media previously reported on Benioff’s remarks and the reaction they sparked within Salesforce.
“We are deeply troubled by leaked documents revealing that Salesforce demonstrated AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency ‘rapidly’ hire 10,000 new agents and produce veterinary reports,” the letter read. “Providing the “Agentforce” infrastructure to expand a mass deportation program that currently detains 66,000 people, 73% of whom have no criminal record, represents a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to the ethical use of technology.
The letter asserts that Benioff’s voice “carries unique weight in Washington,” referencing an episode last fall where Trump canceled an ICE deployment to San Francisco after what appeared to be outreach to Bay Area tech executives, including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He urges Benioff to use this influence as a “corporate statesman” to issue a public statement condemning what he calls ICE’s unconstitutional conduct and to engage Salesforce in clarifying “red lines” prohibiting the use of its cloud and AI products for state violence.
Benioff has been speaking on national and local political issues for years. He supported Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 and later became one of her most high-profile supporters. Proposition Ca failed ballot measure in San Francisco that would have raised taxes to fund homelessness programs. In 2020, he donated to primary campaigns of some Democratic presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris.
But since Trump returned to the White House in January, Benioff has shown increased support for some Republican leaders. In an interview, he said he strives to remain nonpartisan because he also owns Time magazine. But he also joked that while he declined to contribute directly to Trump’s inauguration fund, he had “donated” a photo of the president on the cover of the magazine, which named him 2024 Person of the Year. “He can use the cover of Time magazine for free,” Benioff said in the Fortune interview.
Benioff also faced backlash from Salesforce employees last fall when he suggested the National Guard is expected to be sent to San Francisco to fight crime ahead of the company’s annual conference in the city. He later apologized for the remarks, explaining that they stemmed from genuine concerns about security. He later reversed his position and joined Nvidia’s Huang in asking Trump to refrain from sending troops.
This incident occurred while Salesforce was reportedly presented its technology to ICEtouting that it could be used to help the agency achieve its goal of “nearly tripling its workforce by rapidly hiring 10,000 new officers and agents.”
Salesforce has lost a number of senior executives in recent weeks. Last month, WIRED reported that Denise Dresser, CEO of Salesforce-owned enterprise messaging app Slack, was leaving her role to become chief revenue officer of OpenAI. Ryan Aytay, a 19-year Salesforce veteran who previously served as Benioff’s chief of staff and most recently led the company’s Tableau visualization platform, also announced his departure last week.
Adam Evans, who was executive vice president and general manager of AI at Salesforce and helped lead its Agentforce platform, also recently left his role. And Monday, AMD announcement that Ariel Kelman, president and chief marketing officer of Salesforce, was starting a similar role at the semiconductor giant.
Additional reporting by Paresh Dave.
