(AFP) – A contract with American Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has triggered a barrage of criticism of French IT services company Capgemini in the wake of killings and other incidents involving US border officials. The company was still scrambling Thursday to explain the deal for a tool to identify and track foreigners on US soil, which it says was signed by an arm’s-length subsidiary set up to bid on classified US government work, with limited oversight from HQ in France.
Nevertheless, “according to the information made known to the group, that contract awarded in December 2025 is not currently being fulfilled,” Capgemini told AFP by email. An internal message sent to Capgemini staff Wednesday and seen by AFP said that the contract was “subject to legal challenge” without providing details, adding that the US arm had “launched a process of examining the contents of this contract.”
The killings of two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — by ICE and border patrol (CBP) agents in Minneapolis have made world headlines in recent weeks, provoking widespread condemnation of the American agency. Capgemini, which operates in around 50 countries worldwide and belongs to the CAC40 group of France’s largest listed companies, has called an extraordinary board meeting for this weekend after being the subject of pointed questions in parliament and calls for transparency from the government.
“I’ve been at Capgemini for 32 years and I’ve never seen a crisis situation like this one,” CFDT union delegate Frederic Bolore told AFP. “It’s a huge shock for employees.” Shares in the group fell 2.8 percent to 127.85 euros ($152.70), by close of trading in Paris Thursday, and are 10 percent lower than at the start of the year.
– ‘Active accomplice’ –
Campaign group Multinationals Observatory last week revealed the ICE contract, with further details reported by broadcaster France 2. Chief executive Aiman Ezzat wrote on LinkedIn Sunday that bosses “were recently made aware, through public sources” of the contract with Capgemini Government Solutions (CGS), the US subsidiary.
At CGS, “decision making is separate, networks are firewalled, and the Capgemini group cannot access any classified information (or) classified contracts,” Ezzat added. Public US government documents show that the ICE-CGS contract signed on December 18 is worth $4.8 million.
“I think the least we can expect of a French company… is to be transparent about the contracts it has with ICE, but perhaps also to call them into question,” Economy Minister Roland Lescure told journalists in Paris Thursday. Ezzat acknowledged in his LinkedIn message that “the nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm.”
But CGT union representative Benjamin Girard said the ICE contract’s existence was not a “revelation” to him. “Capgemini works with government organisations playing a part in migration policies that are currently quite authoritarian,” he said. In a letter to CEO Ezzat, CGT representatives said that the ICE deal was “not only contrary to Capgemini’s stated values, but makes our company an active accomplice in serious human rights violations.” France 2 has reported that the company has other contracts in the US tied to surveillance of sites used for detention and transport of arrested foreigners.
© 2024 AFP
