Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff is facing renewed internal criticism following comments made during the company’s annual Kickoff event held on April 10, 2026. On April 13, a group of Salesforce employees circulated an internal open letter addressed to the executive leadership team, calling for a formal apology and a reassessment of the company’s culture regarding government contracts.
The controversy stems from a series of remarks Benioff made during a keynote presentation intended to outline the company’s fiscal year strategy. According to employees present at the event and internal recordings, Benioff made several jokes referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The remarks reportedly compared the efficiency of Salesforce’s new automated sales tools to the speed of enforcement actions, a comparison that many employees characterized as insensitive and inconsistent with the company’s stated core values of equality and human rights.
The open letter, which had garnered over 1,500 signatures by mid-day April 13, demands that Benioff issue a public retraction and that the company provide a transparent update on its ongoing technical support for ICE. The letter states that the jokes trivialized the lived experiences of vulnerable populations and created a hostile environment for employees who have previously advocated against the company’s involvement with the agency.
This is not the first time Salesforce’s relationship with ICE has caused internal friction. In 2018, the company faced significant pushback after it was revealed that ICE was using Salesforce’s cloud products for modernizing its recruiting and communication systems. At that time, more than 650 employees signed a letter urging Benioff to cancel the contract. While Benioff defended the contract at the time, stating the agency was not using Salesforce for border separations, he later donated 250,000 dollars to a non-profit supporting migrant families.
As of April 13, Salesforce has not issued a formal public statement regarding the open letter or the specific content of the Kickoff remarks. Chief People Officer Nathalie Scardino reportedly sent an internal memo to staff acknowledging the feedback and stating that the leadership team is listening to the concerns raised. The company, which reported 34.86 billion dollars in revenue for the previous fiscal year, has historically positioned itself as a leader in stakeholder capitalism, a philosophy Benioff has championed in his public appearances and literature.
The current backlash comes at a time when Salesforce is navigating a broader restructuring of its workforce and a shift toward AI-driven products. The employees' letter specifically requests a town hall meeting to discuss the ethical guardrails of the company’s AI platforms and how they are marketed to government entities.