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With a constant churn of layoffs, a program to surveil its workers in the name of AI data collection, and a photorealistic AI clone of its CEO Mark Zuckerberg that makes him omnipresent throughout the company like a sci-fi villain, it’s no secret that Meta treats its employees like garbage.
Now, it’s seemingly thrown one worker to the wolves of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Almost immediately after being laid off from their job, the former Meta employee was detained by ICE agents, Wired reports, with their colleagues’ cries to higher ups falling on deaf ears.
Discussions about the worker, who was fired with 8,000 others during a round of layoffs on May 20, have been circulating inside the company, according to the magazine. One current employee posted about it in an internal message board this week. The post was flagged as “urgent,” and tagged two Meta executives who focus on immigration issues and employee risk.
The ex-employee’s current status is unknown, with concerned colleagues continuing to speculate about their whereabouts. The belief is that the ex-employee is being detained in El Paso, Texas.
Technically, Meta is under no obligation to stick its neck out for the ex-employee after firing them, but clearly its own workers don’t feel that way. Wired‘s reporting notes that some have rallied together demanding that Meta protect immigrant employees and contractors as president Trump deployed armies of ICE agents to major American cities as part of his brutal immigration crackdown.
Unsurprisingly, these concerned workers feel that Meta is ignoring them. Like many Big Tech figures, Zuckerberg has become awfully chummy with the current administration, signaling his allegiance to Trump’s anti-woke regime by loosening Meta’s standards around hate speech. The relationship was solidified when Trump appointed Zuckerberg to an influential science and tech advisory panel this year.
Meta and immigration officials remain tight-lipped about the ex-employee’s status. Meta declined to comment on the record, while a US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claimed it was impossible to give more details, while stressing the administration “is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history.”
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