Salesforce reportedly rejects employees' call to cut ties with border agency
Employees had voiced concern about being "complicit in the inhumane treatment of vulnerable people."
Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff says the company has no plans to end its contract with US Customs and Border Protection.
Salesforce reportedly has no plans to cut ties with a US border agency over the separation of immigrant families, despite protests by hundreds of the cloud computing giant's employees.
Earlier this week, more than 650 Salesforce employees signed a letter urging CEO Marc Benioff to reassess the company's contract with US Customers and Border Protection, worrying that such work makes them "complicit in the inhumane treatment of vulnerable people." Salesforce announced an agreement in March to overhaul the agency's recruiting process and "manage border activities."
"I'm opposed to separating children from their families at the border. It is immoral," Benioff wrote Wednesday in a memo to Salesforce employees obtained by Bloomberg News. "I have personally financially supported legal groups helping families at the border. I also wrote to the White House to encourage them to end this horrible situation."
The letter was part of the outrage the tech community has expressed over President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which last week aimed to separate children from their parents when they cross US borders illegally. The move resulted in the US government sending thousands of children to holding camps around the country, images of which have sparked international outrage, even from within Trump's own party.
A week earlier, more than 100 Microsoft employees signed a similar letter protesting their company's work with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asking the company to cease operations with the agency.
Salesforce didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously said it wasn't aware of any of its products being involved in the Trump administration's family separation policy.
Security: Stay up-to-date on the latest in breaches, hacks, fixes and all those cybersecurity issues that keep you up at night.
Blockchain Decoded: CNET looks at the tech powering bitcoin -- and soon, too, a myriad services that will change your life.