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Been debating talking about this publicly because I don’t want to get fired, but it seems like the cat’s already out of the bag so whatever: yesterday Hootsuite signed a three-year deal with ICE. Over 100 employees have been extremely vocal in their opposition to this deal
since it first came to light in June and it went through anyway. ICE’s repeated human rights violations are, to put it lightly, seriously at odds with our publicly stated values around DE&I, the Movement for Black Lives, and our purpose to champion the power of human connection.
We’re a B Corp, for fuck’s sake.
That we are eagerly accepting money from an organization that is allegedly subjecting its female detainees to forced hysterectomies, that has a documented history of locking children in cages, that tears families apart and destroys lives is devastating and disgusting in a way
that I can’t effectively put into words. Even more heartbreaking is that multiple members of our Mexico City support team have relayed their personal experiences being targeted and harassed by ICE and our leadership team chose to push this deal through anyway.
This makes it abundantly clear that Hootsuite puts profits above people. This is a company that I’ve been overjoyed to be a part of for more than five years and I am so disgusted that this is who I turned out to be working for.
It feels convenient for this to happen during a pandemic when job mobility is sorely reduced and financial stability is top of mind for everyone. The fear of being without an income and health benefits is what’s stopped me from speaking out sooner.
But what’s easy and what’s right rarely agree, and I don’t want to be complicit in this. I need to do more than just refuse to work with them.
Fuck ICE. Fuck everything they do, fuck everything they stand for, and fuck all of the bullshit they spew on social media and elsewhere as they lie to all of us about the way they treat human beings.
And for the record, I’m a damn good product trainer with consistently high CSAT scores quarter after quarter. If I get fired for speaking out about this it will be purely retaliatory in nature.
