Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs condemn ICE violence, praise Trump Rebecca Bellan 10:19 AM PST · January 27, 2026 On a Monday night NBC News segment , Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei expressed concern over “some of the things we’ve seen in the last few days,” referring to the violence of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
Amodei focused on the importance of preserving democracy at home, both on NBC and in a post on X that specifically called out “the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota.” On NBC, he said he’s a believer in arming democracies to defend against autocratic countries, and that “we need to defend our own democratic values at home.” He added that Anthropic has no contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Meanwhile, in an internal Slack message to OpenAI employees that got leaked to the New York Times , Sam Altman said, “What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”
“Part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach,” Altman wrote. “There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.”
Tech workers, including employees of both companies, have been calling on their chiefs to call the White House and demand that ICE leave U.S. cities in the aftermath of Border Patrol agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. In an open letter, tech workers also urged their CEOs to cancel all company contracts with ICE and speak out publicly against ICE’s violence.
Employees calling for CEOs to take action are encouraged and want more to join the ranks.
“We’re glad to hear the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic condemning the ICE murders,” the ICEout.tech organizers, whose identities remain unknown, told TechCrunch. “Now we need to hear from CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta, all of whom have remained silent despite calls all across the industry.”
Techcrunch event Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer Tickets are live! Save up to $680 while these rates last, and be among the first 500 registrants to get 50% off your +1 pass. TechCrunch Disrupt brings top leaders from Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, a16z, Hugging Face, and more to 250+ sessions designed to fuel growth and sharpen your edge. Connect with hundreds of innovative startups and join curated networking that drives deals, insights, and inspiration. Disrupt 2026 Tickets: One-time offer Tickets are live! Save up to $680 while these rates last, and be among the first 500 registrants to get 50% off your +1 pass. TechCrunch Disrupt brings top leaders from Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, a16z, Hugging Face, and more to 250+ sessions designed to fuel growth and sharpen your edge. Connect with hundreds of innovative startups and join curated networking that drives deals, insights, and inspiration. San Francisco | October 13-15, 2026 REGISTER NOW While Amodei and Altman may be taking something of a stand – one in public, the other internally – both CEOs couched their statements with praise for President Trump, as well.
Amodei applauded Trump’s consideration to allow Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the shootings by federal agents after multiple videos of Alex Pretti’s death circulated online. (It remains to be seen if that investigation will happen, but a growing number of Republicans have begun to call for an investigation, as well.)
In Altman’s message to his staff he also said he was encouraged by Trump’s more recent responses and said he hopes the president, “a very strong leader,” will “rise to this moment and unite the country.”
Altman assured them that OpenAI would “try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.” Altman has yet to publicly criticize the administration’s immigration agenda, or how it is deploying Border Patrol agents into American cities.
J.J. Colao, founder of PR firm Haymaker Group and one of the signatories on ICEout.tech’s letter, called Altman out for trying to “have it both ways” by calling Trump a strong leader, “as if the president bears no responsibility for ICE’s actions.” He added: “On net, I think his statement is helpful, but the performative tribute to the president does a lot to diminish it.”
Of course, the Trump administration’s current AI-forward policies have helped fuel explosive growth at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic over the past year, OpenAI raised at least $40 billion and is in talks to raise another $100 billion at an $830 billion valuation , and Anthropic has raised $19 billion and is in talks to raise another $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation .
Still, such words of praise for Trump is an about face for Altman. In the lead up to Trump’s first term in 2016, Altman posted the following to his own blog :
“[Trump] is not merely irresponsible. He is irresponsible in the way dictators are…To anyone familiar with the history of Germany in the 1930s, it’s chilling to watch Trump in action.”
-- --
