Capgemini was named as the prime contractor for a new ICE surveillance program for “skip-tracing” immigrants. Skip-tracing is a method often used by debt collectors to locate people who are difficult to find, and it has not been used by ICE before.
As part of the new program, ICE enlisted a handful of non-governmental entities to track up to 50,000 immigrants a month, first by identifying where they live and work through “all technology systems available”, and then confirming through “physical, in-person surveillance”, including photographing, according to the Washington Post. The agency awarded contracts to ten companies in December. As part of the contract, the companies could earn more than $1 billion by the end of next year, according to The Intercept.
The highest potential award of $365 million over two years will be awarded to Capgemini Government Solutions, the US subsidiary of European tech giant Capgemini. According to Capgemini CEO Aiman Izzat, Capgemini Government Solutions has been working with the Department of Homeland Security for more than 15 years.
As ICE has stepped up its violent immigration crackdown, protesters have begun targeting the companies that help fuel those efforts. Anti-ICE protesters are organizing nationwide general strikes and boycotts, while hundreds of tech workers have signed a letter calling on their companies to cancel all contracts with ICE. Even Italians have organized protests as ICE agents arrived in Milan for the Winter Olympics. The French are also no strangers to anti-ICE sentiment.
Capgemini’s work with DHS in France came under scrutiny following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty by ICE agents in Minneapolis last month. Union activists and government officials, including French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, demanded that the company review its contract with the US government.
An independent board of directors began reviewing the contract last week, Ezzat said.
“We were recently made aware through public sources of the nature of the contract awarded to CGS by DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement through December 2025. The nature and scope of this work raises questions compared to what we do as a business and technology firm,” the chief executive said in a LinkedIn post last Sunday.
A week later, the review concluded that “the customary legal restrictions imposed on contracting with federal government entities performing classified activities in the United States do not allow the Group to exercise appropriate control over certain aspects of this subsidiary’s operations to ensure alignment with the Group’s objectives,” Capgemini said in a press release.
The divestment decision comes amid a tense geopolitical situation between France and the United States. There is deep resentment among Europeans over the actions of the Trump administration since it took power last year. Early last year, French citizens boycotted Tesla due to its close ties to CEO Elon Musk’s administration, which also includes some brands that are closely associated with American identity, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
As Trump steps up his tariff threats on the bloc, French officials aim to restrict the use of some American technology in government spaces to reduce the country’s dependence on the US. He has repeatedly and openly called on the EU to take a stronger stance against Trump’s tariff threats, including invoking the union’s “trade bazooka” that could allow restrictions on digital services companies like Meta and Google.
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