Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff participates in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026.
Chris J. Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Over 1,400 sales force Two people familiar with the effort told CNBC that employees have signed a letter asking CEO Marc Benioff to halt potential business with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We are deeply concerned by recent reports that Salesforce has pitched AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ‘rapidly’ hire 10,000 new employees and assist with veterinarian tip reporting,” the letter reads.
The letter asks Benioff to cease “all active marketing and ‘opportunities’ regarding ICE enforcement and recruitment” and issue a public statement calling for the elimination of undercover agents in American cities.
The Salesforce employees’ letter is the latest example of tech workers raising concerns about the use of their services by U.S. government agencies after ICE agents killed U.S. citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preti in Minnesota in January.
Benioff joked earlier Tuesday about ICE being present at an employee gathering in Las Vegas, 404 Media reported. The incident prompted employees to criticize comments on the company’s Slack forum, two people told CNBC.
The signatories of the letter urge Salesforce to tell its employees what services it provides to ICE and “suspend or prohibit any infrastructure, AI systems, or services that enable ICE to scale its operations.”
“We are concerned that Salesforce’s products and services enable ICE to hire, onboard, and expand its operational capabilities,” a supplement to the letter, seen by CNBC, said. The document cites an October New York Times report that said Salesforce, in response to a request for information, described its software as an “ideal platform” for recruiting ICE agents.
The employee’s letter came at a difficult time for the company. Investors are concerned that AI models could hurt the growth prospects of software companies, including Salesforce. The company’s stock price has fallen about 27% so far in 2026. In December, the company touted its work with the U.S. government and said it was aiming for a modest increase in growth this fiscal year, between 9% and 10%.
Wired reported on the letter early Tuesday. Salesforce had no immediate comment.
The letter from Salesforce employees comes after 900 Google employees asked the company to withdraw from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as of last week. including business leaders apple CEO Tim Cook also condemned the actions of ICE officers during clashes with protesters.
“If Salesforce is seen as enabling ICE, employees face real personal and professional risks, including reputational damage, social targeting, and being falsely identified as supporting the activities they oppose,” the supplement says. “At the same time, when the scope, governance, and boundaries of Salesforce and ICE’s relationship are unclear, employees are unable to make informed decisions about their work.”
Organizers plan to send a letter to Benioff by Friday, according to the document.
The letter acknowledges that Benioff said in October that he did not believe it was necessary to send the National Guard to San Francisco, where Salesforce is headquartered and hosts the annual Dreamforce conference. A week earlier, the New York Times reported that Mr. Benioff supported President Donald Trump’s idea of sending troops to New York.
In May, the U.S. General Services Administration announced that Salesforce was offering discounts on team communication software Slack to numerous government agencies. adobe, microsoft and ServiceNow It also extended price reductions for software use across the U.S. government.
In October, Benioff met with Trump’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, David Sachs, and in November, the Salesforce CEO attended a dinner with the president at the White House along with other tech executives. He posted a photo of himself with Attorney General Pam Bondi on X.
“Mark, you have often said that ‘business is the greatest platform for change,'” the letter reads. “Today, that platform must be used to protect the constitutional rights of our neighbors and the safety of our communities.”
