As an ‘anti-ICE’ dialogue continues to rage among American entrepreneurs and CEOs, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff has reportedly angered some employees for a “joke” about the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Salesforce CEO’s remarks, now under scrutiny, were delivered at an employee-only ‘Company Kickoff’ in Las Vegas earlier this week, as per multiple US reports. Benioff’s comments brewed a new wave of backlash on the heels of the company making headlines for its layoffs earlier this week.
Benioff was reportedly subjected to faint boos as palpable uneasiness took over the room after the incident, as per reports. Elsewhere, the company’s internal Slack platform purportedly blew up with fiery criticism.
What was US CEO Marc Benioff’s ‘ICE joke’?
During the Salesforce CEO’s opening note, he asked international employees who had come to the United States of America for the company’s Las Vegas event to stand and be recognised, as per Gazetteer SF.
While initially, the room was filled with cheers and applause for them, Benioff then went on to “joke” that ICE was in the building and watching them, according to 404 Media. As per multiple employees’ accounts to the media outlet, Benioff’s remarks instantly became a talking point on Salesforce’s internal Slack channel.
As per 404 Media, the Slack interaction involved an employee asking others “what was the ice joke?” To this, another team member reportedly wrote, “If you’re visiting from outside the United States, please stand … ICE is keeping track of that.”
Another employee recalled it as going, “Please stand if you traveled here from abroad! Thank you! Just so the ICE agents know.”
How has Salesforce responded to Marc Benioff’s ICE joke?
The company seemingly took note of the comments by scrubbing them off a recording of Marc Benioff’s keynote posted on the company’s internal site, as per internal messages and an excerpt of the video seen by the Business Insider.
The video excerpt “appears to show a jump cut during the introduction of Benioff’s speech, where the frame switches to a view of the audience, and then Benioff appears on the opposite side of the stage,” stated Business Insider in an exclusive report on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Salesforce executives, including Slack’s new general manager, Rob Seaman, addressed the so-called jokes in an internal Slack message, again reviewed by the Business Insider.
“I cannot defend or explain them. They do not align with my personal values and I know this to be the case for many of you as well,” he wrote, as per BI’s report.
In a LinkedIn post, Salesforce employee Farone Rasheed also condemned the CEO’s statements.
“Yesterday, in an all-company meeting, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff threatened to arrest and kidnap our international employees. Then, doubled down on that joke. I do not think this was funny and I take this very seriously. I am fearful for my friends and co-workers on my team who are here on international visas,” he wrote on the professional networking site.
“I have been vocal that I am shocked, angered, sad and frustrated by the views espoused by the leadership at Salesforce this week. I’m sharing this here because, frankly, I fear retaliation for that. But I believe we need to call on our leaders to do better here. If you work at Salesforce, please surface your concerns. To the leadership at Salesforce – let the rest of us know when we can expect an apology, a response, and some definitive action after yesterday.”
Employees’ letter to Salesforce CEO
According to a WIRED report, company employees have been circulating an internal letter to CEO Benioff, calling on him to denounce the actions of ICE. They’ve reportedly also urged him to prohibit the use of Salesforce software by immigration agents.
“We are deeply troubled by leaked documentation revealing that Salesforce has pitched AI technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the agency ‘expeditiously’ hire 10,000 new agents and vet tip-line reports,” the letter states, as per WIRED.
“Providing ‘Agentforce’ infrastructure to scale a mass deportation agenda that currently detains 66,000 people—73 percent of whom have no criminal record—represents a fundamental betrayal of our commitment to the ethical use of technology.”
As per the reported development, employees behind the letter argued that Benioff’s influential status in Washington should help position himself as a “corporate statesman,” and condemn ICE’s controversial conduct.
While it’s unclear how many people have signed the reported letter, it cites the “recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis,” and calls them the “devastating indictment of a system that has discarded human decency.”
Back in October 2025, Benioff was also compelled to apologise for suggesting that US President Donald Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco.