Protesters at Amazon Event Urge the Company to Cut Ties With ICE
July 12, 2019
Protests rallied at an Amazon event yesterday, calling on the tech company to stop working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Trump administration. What Happened? At the Amazon Web Services Summit, a free event that was open to the public at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, more than a dozen protesters interrupted Amazon Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels several times before they were escorted out, while more than 500 demonstrators rallied around the Javits Center. After one tech worker asked Vogel "Amazon, how much longer will you have blood on your hands?," a group chant of “Cut Ties With ICE” broke out. Face Off Amazon has been in the news this week for...well, a lot of things really, but especially for providing the government with facial recognition technology that ICE and the FBI have been using to troll through driver’s license database in search of undocumented immigrants. Amazon has also provided the agency with “extensive data and cloud computing services.” In May, Amazon shareholders voted against two proposals to stop selling the technology to the government. Microsoft Corp. and Wayfair Inc. have also been the subject of protests for profiting of immigrant enforcement. Timing Is Everything Protesters are highlighting Amazon’s ties with ICE ahead of the agency’s announced plans to begin a massive round-up of reportedly thousands of undocumented immigrants this weekend. The protest also comes just a week ahead of Monday’s Amazon Prime Day, typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year for the retailer. This is becoming a fraught year for Prime Day, as workers in a Minnesota fulfillment center are planning a strike, and a number of immigration advocacy groups are planning anti-ICE public protests on that day. -Michael Tedder Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters Read More...
Protests rallied at an Amazon event yesterday, calling on the tech company to stop working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Trump administration. What Happened? At the Amazon Web Services Summit, a free event that was open to the public at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, more than a dozen protesters interrupted Amazon Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels several times before they were escorted out, while more than 500 demonstrators rallied around the Javits Center. After one tech worker asked Vogel “Amazon, how much longer will you have blood on your hands?,” a group chant of “Cut Ties With ICE” broke out. Face Off Amazon has been in the news this week for…well, a lot of things really, but especially for providing the government with facial recognition technology that ICE and the FBI have been using to troll through driver’s license database in search of undocumented immigrants. Amazon has also provided the agency with “extensive data and cloud computing services.” In May, Amazon shareholders voted against two proposals to stop selling the technology to the government. Microsoft Corp. and Wayfair Inc. have also been the subject of protests for profiting of immigrant enforcement. Timing Is Everything Protesters are highlighting Amazon’s ties with ICE ahead of the agency’s announced plans to begin a massive round-up of reportedly thousands of undocumented immigrants this weekend. The protest also comes just a week ahead of Monday’s Amazon Prime Day, typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year for the retailer. This is becoming a fraught year for Prime Day, as workers in a Minnesota fulfillment center are planning a strike, and a number of immigration advocacy groups are planning anti-ICE public protests on that day. -Michael Tedder Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Protests rallied at an Amazon event yesterday, calling on the tech company to stop working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Trump administration. What Happened? At the Amazon Web Services Summit, a free event that was open to the public at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, more than a dozen protesters interrupted Amazon Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels several times before they were escorted out, while more than 500 demonstrators rallied around the Javits Center. After one tech worker asked Vogel “Amazon, how much longer will you have blood on your hands?,” a group chant of “Cut Ties With ICE” broke out. Face Off Amazon has been in the news this week for…well, a lot of things really, but especially for providing the government with facial recognition technology that ICE and the FBI have been using to troll through driver’s license database in search of undocumented immigrants. Amazon has also provided the agency with “extensive data and cloud computing services.” In May, Amazon shareholders voted against two proposals to stop selling the technology to the government. Microsoft Corp. and Wayfair Inc. have also been the subject of protests for profiting of immigrant enforcement. Timing Is Everything Protesters are highlighting Amazon’s ties with ICE ahead of the agency’s announced plans to begin a massive round-up of reportedly thousands of undocumented immigrants this weekend. The protest also comes just a week ahead of Monday’s Amazon Prime Day, typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year for the retailer. This is becoming a fraught year for Prime Day, as workers in a Minnesota fulfillment center are planning a strike, and a number of immigration advocacy groups are planning anti-ICE public protests on that day. -Michael Tedder Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
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