French technology giant Capgemini announced on Sunday that it would immediately divest from its US subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions, following increasing scrutiny of the company’s ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Capgemini has been designated as main contractor of a new ICE surveillance program for “skip-tracing” immigrants. Skip-tracing is a method often used by debt collectors to locate hard-to-find people, and it has never been used by ICE before.
Under the new program, ICE used a handful of non-governmental entities to track 50,000 immigrants per month, first by identifying where they live and work through “all available technological systems” and then confirming through “physical, in-person surveillance,” including photographs, according to ICE. Washington Post. The agency awarded contracts to ten companies in December. Under this contract, the companies could earn more than $1 billion by the end of next year, according to The interception.
The highest potential bonus, $365 million over two years, would be paid to Capgemini Government Solutions, the U.S. subsidiary of European technology giant Capgemini. Capgemini Government Solutions has worked with the Department of Homeland Security for more than 15 years, according to Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini.
As ICE escalates its violent crackdown on immigration, protesters have begun targeting businesses that help power these efforts. Anti-ICE protesters organize nationwide general strikes And boycottswhile hundreds of technicians signed a letter asking their companies to cancel all contracts with ICE. Even Italians staged protests as ICE agents descended on Milan for the Winter Olympics. The French are no strangers to anti-ICE sentiment either.
Following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis last month, scrutiny of Capgemini’s work with the EDS set up in France. Union workers and government officials, including French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, have demanded that the company review its contracts with the U.S. government.
An independent board of directors began reviewing the contract last week, Ezzat said.
“We were recently informed, through public sources, of the nature of a contract awarded to CGS by DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2025. The nature and scope of this work raised questions relative to what we typically do as a business and technology company,” the CEO said in a statement. LinkedIn post last Sunday.
A week later, the study concluded that “the customary legal restrictions imposed on contracts with federal government entities carrying out classified activities in the United States did not allow the Group to exercise appropriate control over certain aspects of this subsidiary’s operations to ensure alignment with the Group’s objectives,” Capgemini said in a statement. a press release.
The divestment decision comes in a tense geopolitical context between France and the United States. Since he took office last year, Europeans have felt deep resentment toward the Trump administration’s actions. Early last year, French citizens organized boycotts of Tesla due to CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to the administration, including with some brands strongly associated with American identity, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
As Trump escalates his tariff threats against the bloc, French officials have sought to restrict They have also repeatedly and openly called on the European Union to take a tougher stance against Trump’s tariff threats, including triggering EU “trade.” bazooka» which could allow restrictions on digital services companies like Meta and Google.
