European tech giant cuts US subsidiary after multimillion-dollar ICE contract

French technology giant Capgemini announced on Sunday that it will divest its US subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions with immediate effect, following growing scrutiny over the company’s ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Capgemini has been named lead contractor for a new ICE surveillance program for « track skipping » immigrants. Skip tracking is a method often used by debt collectors to locate hard-to-find people and has not been used by ICE before.

As part of the new program, ICE has enlisted a handful of nongovernmental organizations to track 50,000 immigrants a month, first by identifying where they live and work through « all available technology systems » and then by confirming through « physical, in-person surveillance, » including photography, according to the Washington Post. In December, the agency signed contracts with ten companies. As part of the deal, the companies could earn more than $1 billion by the end of next year, according to The Intercept.

The largest potential award of $365 million over two years will go to Capgemini Government Solutions, the US subsidiary of European technology giant Capgemini. Capgemini Government Solutions has worked with the Department of Homeland Security for more than 15 years, according to Capgemini CEO Ayman Ezzat.

As ICE escalates its violent crackdown on immigration, protesters have begun targeting companies that help fuel the effort. Anti-ICE protesters are staging nationwide strikes and boycotts, while hundreds of tech workers have signed a letter asking their companies to cancel all contracts with ICE. Even Italians staged protests as ICE agents descend on Milan for the Winter Olympics. The French are also no strangers to anti-ICE sentiment.

Following the fatal shootings of Rene Goode and Alex Pretty by ICE agents in Minneapolis last month, scrutiny of Capgemini’s work with DHS has intensified in France. Union workers and government officials, including French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, demanded the company review its contracts with the US government.

An independent board of directors began a review of the contract last week, Ezzat said.

« We were recently notified 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 about what we typically do as a business and technology firm, » the CEO said in a LinkedIn post last Sunday.

A week later, the review concluded that « the usual legal restrictions imposed on contracting with federal government entities carrying out classified activities in the United States do not allow the Group to exercise adequate control over certain aspects of this subsidiary’s operations to ensure compliance with the Group’s objectives, » Capgemini said in a press release.

The decision to sell comes amid a tense geopolitical situation between France and the United States. There is deep-seated resentment among Europeans at the actions of the Trump administration since he took office last year. Early last year, French citizens organized boycotts of Tesla because of CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to the administration, including some brands that are simply strongly associated with an American identity, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.

As Trump escalates his tariff threats against the bloc, French officials are seeking to limit the use of some American technology in government spaces to ease the country’s dependence on the United States. They have also repeatedly and openly asked the European Union to take a tougher stance against Trump’s tariff threats, including by unleashing the Union’s « trade bazooka, » which could allow restrictions on digital services companies like Meta and Google.