OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has broken with most of Silicon Valley by directly criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a deadly shooting in Minnesota. In an internal message to staff, he told employees that “what’s happening with ICE is going too far,” becoming the first major tech leader to call out the agency by name over the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
His comments, which quickly leaked and ricocheted across the tech world, have turned a local tragedy into a national test of how far corporate leaders will go in confronting federal law enforcement. I see Altman’s stance as a revealing moment for an industry that has long tried to stay neutral on immigration enforcement even as its own workers demand a clearer moral line.
From Minneapolis shooting to internal revolt
The chain of events began when federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, a use of force that immediately drew scrutiny from civil rights advocates and local officials. Reporting on the incident describes federal agents firing on Pretti in the city, turning a routine enforcement action into a flash point over how ICE conducts raids in densely populated neighborhoods. The killing in Minnesota, and the images and eyewitness accounts that followed, set the backdrop for the internal unrest that would soon reach OpenAI’s leadership.
Inside OpenAI, employees began pressing executives to address the shooting and the broader pattern of aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to detailed Key Facts compiled from Altman’s internal post, staff wanted clarity on whether the company had any contracts or data-sharing relationships with ICE and how its artificial intelligence tools might be used in future enforcement. That pressure culminated in Altman’s decision to speak bluntly about the agency’s conduct rather than hide behind generic language about “tragedy” or “healing.”
Altman’s message: ICE is “going too far”
In his note to employees, Altman did something that other high profile executives had carefully avoided, he named Immigration and Customs Enforcement directly and said “what’s happening with ICE is going too far.” Coverage of the internal memo makes clear that he framed the shooting of Alex Pretti as part of a pattern of excessive force, not an isolated mistake, and argued that trust could only be rebuilt with transparent investigations into the Minneapolis operation. One detailed account describes how Topline in his message was that federal power must be constrained by accountability when lethal force is used.
Several outlets note that Altman is the first major technology CEO to call out ICE by name after the killing of Alex Pretti, a distinction that underscores how cautious other corporate leaders have been. A separate breakdown of the Sam Altman Becomes moment emphasizes that his language went beyond the usual calls for “dialogue” and instead suggested a red line had been crossed. For a company that builds powerful AI systems, that kind of moral framing matters, because it signals to employees and partners that some uses of its technology will be treated as incompatible with its values.
AI leaders step into a vacuum left by Big Tech
Altman is not alone among artificial intelligence executives in condemning the violence in Minnesota, but he is part of a relatively small group willing to speak so directly while much of Big Tech stays quiet. One analysis notes that Some tech leaders are finally criticizing the violent methods used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal agents, even as larger platforms and cloud providers avoid naming the agency. That same reporting stresses that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become a symbol of hard line immigration policy, making any corporate comment inherently political.
Within this narrower circle of AI-focused firms, there is a growing sense that silence is no longer tenable. A newsletter writer, OpenAI’s Altman and argued that chief executives have a responsibility to distinguish between criticizing specific government actions and undermining the rule of law itself, a distinction that Altman tried to draw in his own comments. Another segment of that same coverage, written by Andrew, notes that on Monday he had already urged corporate leaders to speak up after the Minnesota shooting, setting the stage for Altman’s intervention.
Anthropic, Trump and the politics around ICE
Altman’s comments also landed alongside a parallel response from Anthropic, another major AI company, whose chief executive Dario Amodei has been outspoken about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In public remarks, Amodei applauded Trump’s consideration to allow Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the shootings by federal agents, arguing that local oversight could help restore confidence. A separate account of the same episode stresses that Amodei praised Trump for even considering that step in Minnesota, framing it as a rare example of federal willingness to share scrutiny.
Internally, Anthropic has tried to draw a bright line between its business and the agency at the center of the controversy. One report notes that Anthropic has no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that, Meanwhile, in an internal Slack message, its leadership reiterated that stance to employees worried about potential entanglements. Another summary of that same Slack exchange highlights how executives emphasized their distance from Immigration and Customs, a signal that AI firms now see reputational risk in being associated with ICE’s most aggressive operations.
Tech workers, billionaires and a divided Silicon Valley
On the ground, rank and file tech workers have been organizing protests and walkouts in response to the Minnesota violence, and Altman has aligned himself with that energy rather than resisting it. One account describes how Getting your Trinity Audio player ready introduces coverage of rallies where OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman joined employees and other tech staff calling for deescalation by federal agents. A parallel report, labeled Trinity Audio, similarly notes that By Annie Bang and Alicia Tang for Bloomberg, Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman appeared alongside Anthropic’s leadership to urge federal officers to “lead right now, deescalate.”
Prominent philanthropists have also weighed in, adding another layer of pressure on Washington. In a widely shared post on X, Key Facts note that Gates, the ex-wife of Bill Gates, called the killing of Pretti “unconscionable” and said that humane immigration enforcement must be a pillar of these principles. A second breakdown of the same episode emphasizes that Gates explicitly linked her criticism to the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good, even though Renee Good’s role in the Minneapolis events is Unverified based on available sources, and referenced Bill Gates to underscore the philanthropic community’s stake in immigration policy.
