Capgemini to sell US subsidiary after ICE criticism

French IT company Capgemini is now selling its American subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions after heavy criticism of its cooperation with the American immigration agency ICE, AFP reports.

The background is that two people were killed in connection with ICE and border police operations in Minneapolis, which attracted great attention in the US and globally. Capgemini’s subsidiary has had a contract worth approximately $4.8 million to identify and track migrants in the US.

Following political reactions in France, union concerns and demands for transparency, Capgemini held an extraordinary board meeting and announced that the sale process would begin immediately. The subsidiary reportedly accounts for a very small portion of Capgemini’s revenue, equivalent to 0.4% globally.

The company says that US privacy and security regulations have made it impossible for the group to have sufficient visibility and control over its operations. At the same time, the organization Multinationals Observatory writes that the company has had a more active role in ICE’s deportation work than Capgemini’s management has admitted, with compensation allegedly being partly linked to the number of arrests.