Amazon Protests Demand End to ICE, CBP Support Amid Tech Backlash
Seattle, WA – Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle on Friday, February 14, 2026, to demand the tech giant sever ties with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Demonstrators symbolically dumped ice onto the lawn, illustrating their call to “dump” Amazon’s support for the agencies, according to reports from Truthout and The Seattle Times.
The protest followed an announcement by Ring, Amazon’s home security camera company, that it would end its partnership with Flock Safety, a law enforcement technology firm. This decision came after public criticism of a Ring Super Bowl advertisement showcasing the “Search Party” feature, which utilizes a network of cameras and artificial intelligence for neighborhood surveillance. The termination of the Flock partnership was one of three initial demands of the Seattle protesters.
“Our third demand has already been met — which shows that these companies are waking up to how appalled regular people are about the dystopia they’re creating for us,” said Emily Johnston, an organizer with the protest, as reported by Truthout. “No one wants surveillance and state violence except those who are profiting from it — and Amazon’s thriving depends on both its workers and customers,” she added.
Protesters are now focusing on two remaining demands: that Amazon cease hosting ICE and CBP on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and that it end its partnership with Palantir, a data analytics company that provides services to ICE and is used in deportation proceedings. Guadalupe, a representative from La Resistencia, stated, “Corporations for years have not only been complicit, but active beneficiaries of the tax money needlessly spent to tear apart immigrant families and communities,” according to Truthout. “Tech plays a bigger role today more than ever in empowering ICE surveillance and its apparatuses of control.”
Eliza Pan, co-founder of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), hailed Ring’s decision regarding Flock Safety as “a big victory,” adding, “Amazon knew about this rally, and knows that What we have is the first of many if they do not end these other partnerships,” Truthout reported. Pan asserted that Amazon is “facilitating and profiting from the rise of a supercharged surveillance state that does not respect human rights or the rule of law.”
Concerns about the potential for misuse of surveillance technology were amplified by the Ring Super Bowl ad, which demonstrated the “Search Party” feature as a tool for locating lost pets. Beryl Lipton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that the addition of AI-driven biometric identification “turbocharges the extreme dangers of allowing this to carry on,” and represents “a scary overreach of the surveillance state,” as reported by Truthout.
Organizers stated that the protest was a coordinated effort involving multiple groups, including AECJ, No Tech for Apartheid, Defend Immigrants Alliance, La Resistencia, and others. Protesters distributed flyers with a QR code linking to AECJ resources for Amazon employees, according to The Seattle Times.
Evan Sutton, a protest organizer, told Common Dreams that the demonstration is part of a broader movement challenging the “Trump-Tech alliance.” He pointed to a recent incident where a CBP agent fatally shot Alex Pretti, and noted that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy attended a private screening of a film about Melania Trump on the same night. “We have a duty to let these companies know that we won’t stand for it,” Sutton said.
Recent reports indicate a growing trend of boycotts against major tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and Netflix, due to concerns over their data privacy practices and political affiliations, as noted by The Asheville Citizen Times. Amazon’s recent cancellation of a partnership with Flock Safety over privacy concerns, as reported by CNN, suggests a growing sensitivity to public pressure regarding data security and surveillance practices.