The protesters, who positioned themselves near the venue as thousands of attendees streamed in to hear CEO Marc Benioff, held signs and distributed flyers urging the company to stop providing any services to ICE, a federal agency that has faced intense scrutiny over its immigration enforcement practices.
ICE, created after the September 11, 2001 attacks to combat cross‑border crime and illegal immigration, saw its budget and enforcement actions surge during President Donald Trump’s second term, leading to a spike in arrests and several high‑profile incidents that sparked bipartisan outrage.
Salesforce’s relationship with federal agencies dates back to 2018, when employees first raised concerns about the company’s work with ICE. In February, more than 1,400 staff signed a letter demanding that CEO Marc Benioff halt the promotion of Salesforce AI tools to the agency, which the letter said were being used to help ICE hire 10,000 new agents and vet tip‑line reports.
Palantir, a data‑analytics firm, openly markets its platform to ICE, describing it as a way to improve “efficiency, transparency, and accountability.” By contrast, Salesforce has taken a more cautious public stance, with President and CFO Robin Washington emphasizing the company’s commitment to “equality and trust” while acknowledging the diversity of viewpoints among its 50,000‑person audience at Dreamforce.
The Dreamforce protests are part of a broader wave of tech‑industry boycotts targeting companies accused of supporting ICE, including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta and others. Advocacy groups argue that public reporting on ICE spending enables consumers to hold firms accountable, though the sheer number of firms with direct or indirect ties complicates coordinated action.
Organizers of the Dreamforce demonstration handed out flyers that urged Salesforce to use its influence to “defend democracy, refuse to profit from family separation, and push the tech industry to follow.” The company has not yet issued a formal response to the specific demands made at the event.