Immigration nonprofit says ‘no’ to Salesforce
Tech firms face ethics backlash over borders
SAN FRANCISCO – A Texas nonprofit that helps immigrants has rejected a $250,000 donation from Salesforce, saying it won’t be part of what it calls an attempt by the company to buy its way out of an ethical quandary over its contracts with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The decision is part of the unprecedented backlash tech companies are facing – particularly from their own employees – over work with government agencies that these employees say violate ethical standards. In recent months, employees at Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Salesforce have pressured their senior management to drop deals with government agencies.
The immigration nonprofit’s decision follows an open letter to CEO Marc Benioff in June that was signed by more than 650 of Salesforce’s own staff, asking it to cancel its contract to supply software and tools to manage border activities to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Salesforce said it doesn’t work with CBP regarding separating families and kept the contract. At the same time, it pledged to donate $1 million to help families affected by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that resulted in authorities separating thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
San Antonio-based Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and
Legal Services (RAICES) was offered $250,000 as part of that pledge. In a letter to Salesforce on Monday, it refused the money.
“Your software provides an operational backbone for the agency, and thus does directly support CBP in implementing its inhumane and immoral policies,” the nonprofit’s executive director Jonathan Ryan wrote in a letter made public Thursday. “There is no way around this, and there is no room for hair splitting when children are being brutally torn away from parents.”
RAICES was the beneficiary of a Silicon Valley couple’s viral Facebook fundraiser that raised more than $20 million to help separated immigrant families.
This month, Benioff tweeted that the company doesn’t work with CBP regarding separation of families, although the agency is a customer. “We don’t have an agreement with ICE,” he wrote. Salesforce didn’t have additional comment.
The Salesforce issue is only the latest in a series of public clashes between tech employees and employers over whether those companies should do work that aids what some see as draconian policies or that could lead to outcomes that could curb civil liberties. These include fears over drones governed by artificial intelligence and facial recognition software that scans public gatherings and protests.
Technology companies are in the crosshairs both because their work- forces tend to lean liberal politically and because their products are the engines that underpin much of modern life.
“The employees know they have the power, and they’re making use of it,” said John Hooker, a professor of business ethics and social responsibility at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.