Top tech execs silent after latest ICE action

After the shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, some tech leaders are starting to speak out, but the silence from the most important names in the industry is deafening.

The killing of George Floyd in the same city almost five years ago sparked widespread condemnation on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. But a year into the second Trump administration, top tech executives have remained silent following Pretti’s death and the killing of Renee Nicole Good weeks earlier.

Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse and U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday.

That evening, Apple According to many media outlets, CEO Tim Cook was at the White House for the screening of the First Lady’s new documentary. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su also attended the meeting, according to multiple reports. The White House hosted a special screening of “Melania,” produced by Amazon MGM Studios, ahead of its premiere this week.

Representatives from Apple, Amazon, AMD and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Many big names in the industry have spoken out, but not the megacap CEOs who flocked to Washington D.C. to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration last January, many of whom also donated to his inauguration proceedings.

“MURDERERS”, ex Meta chief artificial intelligence scientist Yann LeCun he wrote on X on Monday, reposting graphic video of the agent-involved shooting over the weekend. LeCun left Meta late last year to start his own company.

“There is politics, but humanity must move past it,” LinkedIn co-founder wrote Reid Hoffmanwho is there Microsoft’s Board of Directors. Hoffman reshared several posts criticizing the Trump administration’s policies and noted the silence of top tech leaders.

Jeff Dean, a longtime AI leader at Google, voiced his views and was thanked by some of his colleagues for standing up.

Dean, who had previously criticized the Trump administration’s actions on social media, wrote, “Everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should condemn this.”

In a post on Saturday, Dean said he lived in Minneapolis when he was in middle school and wrote the video of the attack:absolutely embarrassing“

President Trump and his administration have blamed Democrats and local officials, especially Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the White House deputy chief of staff. Stephen Miller Both accuse Pretti of being a domestic terrorist. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said ABC’s “This Week” said the victim brought a semi-automatic weapon to “what was supposed to be a peaceful protest.” There is no evidence that Pretti pointed a gun.

In response to Bessent’s comments, Box CEO Aaron Levie wrote About X, “I think we’re in a post-truth world where no words matter anymore.”

Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and local police leaders have called on the president to remove immigration officers from the city. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told NBC “Meet the Press” “There have been three murders in Minneapolis since the beginning of the year, two of which were committed by federal agents,” he said Sunday.

Considering what happened five years ago, it is notable that the tech sector is not included in this conversation.

In 2020, top executives joined the chorus of voices outraged over the killing of Floyd by a police officer. The Black Lives Matter movement received millions of dollars in donations from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. About a week after Floyd’s death, Apple’s Cook sent a memo to employees condemning the killing.

Companies, including Apple, Airbnb, Uber, IntelYouTube and Shopify They all made significant financial commitments to groups pushing for equality and opportunity after Floyd’s death.

Tech insiders are pressuring top bosses to break their recent silence following the murders of Pretti and Good.

A. petition The document, signed by tech workers and distributed last week, calls on CEOs to “speak out against ICE’s actions,” referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for Good’s death. As of Monday, the petition has more than 400 industry signatories; most Google, Meta And Amazon.

“Today, we call on our CEOs again to: 1. Call the White House and demand that ICE leave our cities. 2. Cancel all corporate contracts with ICE. and 3. Speak publicly against ICE’s violence,” the petition reads.

AI startup Anthropic is one of several high-profile companies breaking the mold.

CEO Dario Amodei referenced “The horrors we saw in Minnesota” after posting a comment about X article He wrote about AI. Regarding the article, he said that “the emphasis on the importance of protecting democratic values ​​and rights in the country is particularly meaningful.”

One social media Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah said Sunday that he doesn’t speak publicly about politics “but recent events — a federal agent killing a nurse in an intensive care unit for no apparent reason and without provocation — have shocked the conscience,” adding: “I feel very sad today.”

OpenAIs James DyettTrump, the global business chief, criticized tech leaders on Saturday for vocally opposing a proposed California wealth tax and remaining silent on “masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets.”

Y Combinator co-founder paul graham Reshared Dyett’s post.

“How bad do things have to get for you to say something?” he said.

In October, tech leaders showed how much influence they could have on Trump after the president threatened to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco.

after incoming calls Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sales force CEO Marc Benioff and others, Trump backed down.

On Sunday, they included the CEOs of more than 60 Minnesota-based companies. Aim And United HealthHe called for “immediate de-escalation” in a letter.

Trump on Monday ordered border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to manage the situation.

“Tom is tough but fair and will report directly to me,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.

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