The letter specifically cited “the recent murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretty in Minneapolis” as catalysts, calling them “a devastating indictment of a system that has abandoned human decency.” It is not clear how many signatories the letter has received so far.
The letter, which has not been previously reported, is being held this week amid Salesforce’s annual leadership kickoff event in Las Vegas. During an appearance at the event earlier today, Benioff asked the international staff to stand up to thank him for attending. According to current and former Salesforce employees who spoke to WIRED, he then joked that ICE agents were monitoring him in the building.
Benioff’s comments caused an immediate backlash among employees. “A lot of people are angry,” said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Another source told WIRED that the internal pushback today was significantly more vigorous than other controversial comments Benioff has made in the past in support of President Trump’s call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to address crime.
Salesforce did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment. Business Insider and 404 Media previously reported on Benioff’s comments and the reaction to them inside Salesforce.
“We are deeply troubled by leaked documents that reveal that Salesforce introduced AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency ‘expeditiously’ hire 10,000 new agents and vet tip-line reports,” the letter reads. “Providing the ‘Agentforce’ infrastructure to advance a mass deportation agenda that currently detains 66,000 people – 73 percent of whom have no criminal record – represents a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to the ethical use of technology.”
The letter argues that Benioff’s voice “holds unparalleled importance in Washington,” pointing to an episode last fall when Trump canceled the ICE deployment to San Francisco after outreach to Bay Area tech leaders, including Benioff and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. It urges Benioff to use that influence as a “corporate politician” to issue a public statement condemning what he calls ICE’s unconstitutional conduct and committing Salesforce to clearing “red lines” barring the use of its cloud and AI products for state violence.
Benioff has weighed in on both national and local political issues over the years. He endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and later became one of the most high-profile supporters of Proposition C, a failed San Francisco ballot measure that would have increased taxes to fund programs to address homelessness. In 2020, he donated to the primary campaigns of some Democratic presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris.
But since Trump returned to the White House in January, Benioff has signaled more support for some Republican leaders. In an interview, he said that he tries to be impartial because he also owns Time magazine. But he also joked that, although he declined to contribute directly to Trump’s inauguration fundraiser, he did “donate” a photo of the president to the cover of the magazine that named him its 2024 Person of the Year. “He can use the cover of Time magazine for free,” Benioff said in an interview with Fortune.
Benioff also faced opposition from Salesforce employees last fall when he suggested the National Guard be sent to San Francisco to combat crime ahead of the company’s annual conference in the city. He later apologized for his comments, stating that they stemmed from genuine concerns about safety. He later reversed his position and joined Nvidia’s Huang in asking Trump to refrain from sending troops.
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