'Shameful': Tech leaders react to ICE killing of Alex Pretti
Social media is rarely as activated as it has been since the weekend — or as bipartisan in its outrage.
Users from a wide swath of the political spectrum shared their horror at the killing of Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse fatally shot on Saturday by a masked federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.
But in Silicon Valley, a divide began to grow. On one side were top tech CEOs who, as CNBC noted, failed to criticize an administration they've been cozy with since its inauguration. The most conspicuous silence was that of Apple's Tim Cook, who made a point of calling out the "senseless killing" of George Floyd at the WWDC conference in 2020.
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As his latest X post (celebrating MLK Day) filled with angry replies, Cook was to be found at the White House, attending a screening of the movie Melania.
Two days later, Cook sent an internal message to Apple employees, first obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. But that message wasn't exactly a profile in courage either — it simply called for "deescalation," and didn't mention Pretti or ICE by name.
Still, Cook's timid response was far from the whole story. Just below the tier of superstar CEOs, some of the industry's leading technologists and investors (think: Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, a16z) took clearer stands on social media — including more than one who felt moved to post while declaring that they don't normally talk politics.
We're keeping a reverse chronological list, below — with dates included, so you can see when CEOs like Sam Altman decided to share their views.
On Jan. 27, 2026
1. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
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I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too. But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.
President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country. I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.
As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much. We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else. But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.
— Sam Altman in an internal Slack channel, as reported by The New York Times
As of Jan. 26, 2026
1. Jeff Dean, chief scientist, Google DeepMind & Google Research
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2. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
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3. Yann LeCun, executive chairman at AMI Labs
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4. Alexis Ohanian, investor and co-founder of Reddit
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5. Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal app
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6. James Dyett, senior executive at OpenAI
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7. Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator
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8. Ethan Choi, partner at Khosla Ventures
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9. Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures
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10. Chris Olah, co-founder of Anthropic
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11. John O'Farrell, former general partner of a16z
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12. Kath Korevec, director of product at Google Labs
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13. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic
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14. Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at a16z
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15. Ashley Mayer, co-founder and general partner of Coalition Operators
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16. Katie Jacobs Stanton, founder and general partner of Moxxie Ventures
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17. Dave McClure, founder of Practical Venture Capital
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18. Seth Bannon, founding partner at Fifty Years
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19. Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company
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UPDATE: Jan. 27, 2026, 11:10 a.m. PST This story has been updated to include new statements from tech leaders made on Jan. 27, 2026.
Topics Social Good Politics
Chris is a veteran tech, entertainment and culture journalist, author of 'How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,' and co-host of the Doctor Who podcast 'Pull to Open.' Hailing from the U.K., Chris got his start as a sub editor on national newspapers. He moved to the U.S. in 1996, and became senior news writer for Time.com a year later. In 2000, he was named San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine. He has served as senior editor for Business 2.0, and West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business and Fast Company. Chris is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia, the nationwide after-school program co-founded by author Dave Eggers. His book on the history of Star Wars is an international bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.
Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
