John,
When Americans wake up to images of hundreds of heavily armed agents in combat gear storming a civilian apartment building in the middle of the night -- detonating flashbangs, dragging children from their beds, and arresting people without cause -- Apple and Google are not on the sidelines. They are part of the machinery that made those raids possible.
Not a good look for technology companies who sell themselves as friendly to families, champions of American ingenuity, and stewards of innovation “
for good.”
Apple and Google both profit from lucrative contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). At the same time, they have actively suppressed lawful tools that allow ordinary people to warn neighbors about ICE activity, document abuses in real time, and protect their families.
That is not neutrality. It is a choice -- one that prioritizes appeasing Trump and his xenophobic enforcement demands, over human rights, transparency, and public accountability.
Send a direct message to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Demand they terminate all contracts with ICE and CBP and publicly commit to protecting the right of people to share information, document enforcement, and defend their communities.
The consequences of that choice are concrete. In September, just days before nearly 300 ICE agents carried out a militarized, midnight raid on a Chicago apartment building full of sleeping families -- a raid later ruled illegal by a federal judge -- Apple and Google removed apps that could have warned residents and preserved evidence of what occurred.
ICEBlock and Red Dot would have given families time, visibility, and protection. Instead, at the request of Attorney General Pam Bondi, access to those tools was cut off. Meanwhile, Google Maps, Waze, and similar platforms continue to allow users to track other forms of law enforcement -- because sharing public safety information is legal, constitutional, and routine.
Like authoritarian governments in other countries throughout history, The Trump administration does not want communities to look out for one another when masked, heavily armed agents show up at their doors. And Apple and Google chose to help enforce that silence.
When technology companies knowingly enable aggressive, often unlawful enforcement while disabling tools that expose abuse, they cross a line, from service provider to accomplice. Friendly branding cannot obscure the fact that their platforms are being used to terrorize families in the dark.
Tell Apple and Google to terminate their contracts with ICE and CBP, and publicly commit to protecting the right of people to share information with their communities now.
Thank you for refusing to let Big Tech turn American neighborhoods into armed zones of fear.
– DFA AF Team
