County Executive Zahilay: Stand With Communities, Not Corporations Profiting from Genocide & Deportation

King County Executive Girmay Zahilay

In the November 2025 elections, voters across King County demanded a shift away from corporate influence and politics as usual. Communities voted out several corporate-aligned incumbents and elected Skyway’s progressive councilmember, Girmay Zahilay, as the county’s next Executive.

Just days after his election, Executive-elect Zahilay announced a 100-person transition team that included Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, alongside additional representatives from Amazon. This decision alarmed many in our communities.

Across the world and here at home, corporations like Microsoft and Amazon profit from contracts tied to surveillance, military infrastructure, and immigration enforcement. According to a United Nations report examining the “economy of occupation to economy of genocide,” major tech firms provide cloud computing, AI, and data infrastructure used by the Israeli military and security apparatus. These same companies have also maintained contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agencies responsible for raids, detentions, and deportations that terrorize immigrant communities across the United States.

In the past year alone, our communities have witnessed devastating violence and loss of life connected to immigration enforcement. At the same time, tech companies continue to profit from systems that expand surveillance, policing, and military industrial complex. These corporations are also among the most powerful political actors in Washington State, lobbying against fair taxation while influencing policy decisions that affect our daily lives.

Shortly after the transition team was announced in November 2025, county workers and community members launched this petition. Within weeks it gathered nearly 300 signatures from King County workers, residents, students, business owners, and members of more than three dozen labor unions, advocacy organizations, and community groups. Organizers also sent Executive Zahilay a letter and a 100 personal messages from constituents asking him to reconsider the role of Microsoft and Amazon in shaping county governance.

Our coalition includes organizations such as No Azure for Apartheid, Seattle Against War, No Tech for Apartheid, and the Democratic Socialists of America Seattle chapter, along with many local community advocates.

In January 2026, after the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis, Executive Zahilay released a statement condemning the violence and reaffirming King County’s commitment to Washington’s Keep Washington Working Act, which limits local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

While we recognize the legal constraints local governments face, we also know that federal immigration enforcement and militarized surveillance systems are made possible by the technology and infrastructure that powers it. The same companies profiting from genocide, war and deportation contracts are being invited to shape the policy priorities of our county government.

We believe this represents a dangerous conflict of interest and a continuation of corporate capture in public governance.

That is why King County workers and community members formed King County Divestment for Justice, a worker-led and community-driven effort demanding accountability from our elected leaders.

We call on Executive Zahilay to meet our demands.

Our communities deserve leadership that prioritizes human rights, dignity, and democratic accountability over corporate influence.

We urge Executive Zahilay to listen to his constituents and demonstrate that King County will not collaborate with corporations profiting from genocide, war, surveillance, deportation, and state repression.

Sign this petition to demand that King County stand with our communities—not with these profiteers.

Links: https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/flock-roundup

Links: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/08/ice-agents-have-new-tools-to-track-and-id-people/

Links: https://bit.ly/3Nk3Rd6

Sources:

Girmay Zahilay's KC Exec Transition team document- https://drive.google.com/file/d/12JU2hPllNom90ims5zVmWz-EGnYBb_pk/view

2025 was the deadliest year for those in ICE custody in decades, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/04/ice-2025-deaths-timeline

United Nations Report: From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/

Microsoft Powers ICE: Why doesn't Microsoft want to talk about its contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement," No Azure For Apartheid https://medium.com/@noazureforapartheid/microsoft-powers-ice-why-doesnt-microsoft-want-to-talk-about-its-contracts-with-immigration-and-bc04fae8d43b

King County Executive-Elect Girmay Zahilay Thanks Constituents For Telling Him He's Working With A War Profiteer, But Doesn't Kick Him Off The Team, Hannah Krieg, The Burner https://www.theburnerseattle.com/post/king-county-executive-elect-girmay-zahilay-thanks-constituents-for-telling-him-he-s-working-with-a-w

Want to Stop ICE? Go After It's Corporate Collaborators, The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/ice-businesses-boycott-campaign/#

“Anti-authoritarian scholars and organizers stress that the most important thing for pro-democracy movements to do is to peel away a regime’s “pillars of support.” Even the most despotic of regimes can’t rule without the backing or consent of powerful external institutions. Businesses are society’s most important non-state institutions, and most of the biggest ones in America are collaborating with Trump, making themselves a very steady pillar of support for his rule. These mega-corporations have immense financial and political power. It may seem like there’s nothing to be done to bring them to heel. But the successes with Avelo Airlines and the Minneapolis Hilton—as well as earlier pressure campaigns like the #Tesla Takedown, the fight to force Disney to rehire Jimmy Kimmel, and the boycott of Target over its Trump-friendly anti-DEI moves—show the immense leverage that consumers and workers have when provided an opportunity. We are not powerless, and there are concrete actions anyone can take to start eroding Trump’s support from big business.”

Other Resources:

Complicity in genocide in Gaza:

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Microsoft, Investigate https://investigate.afsc.org/company/microsoft

No Azure For Apartheid https://noazureforapartheid.com/

BDS, Microsoft Overview https://bdsmovement.net/microsoft

Microsoft Finally Acknowledges Supplying AI Services to Israel But Denies Gaza Genocide Complicity, TRTWorld https://www.trtworld.com/article/c123863950e1

The Israeli Military is One of Microsoft's Top AI Customers, Leaked Document Reveals, Drop Site News https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/microsoft-azure-israel-top-customer-ai-cloud

Inside the Campaign to End Microsoft's Collaboration With The Israeli Army, Middle East Eye, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/inside-campaign-end-microsofts-collaboration-israeli-army

Israel Has Committed Genocide in Gaza, the UN Commission finds, United Nations Human Rights Office of High Commissioner - Sept 16th, 2025 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds

A Million Calls an Hour: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud

Revealed: Microsoft deepens ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/israeli-military-gaza-war-microsoft

Revealed: Israel demanded Google and Amazon us secret 'wink' to side-step legal orders, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/google-amazon-israel-contract-secret-code

Not My Tax Dollars, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action" https://www.notmytaxdollars.org/

      • Over 17 trillion of US tax dollars have gone to the Israeli military to commit genocide and further occupy and displace Palestinian civilians
Contract with ICE:

The are the Fortune 500 companies that have active contracts with ICE, Fortune Magazine https://fortune.com/2025/06/26/fortune-500-companies-active-contracts-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice/

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Microsoft, Investigate https://investigate.afsc.org/company/microsoft

Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have taken advantage of a commonly used but little-known tool to quietly enter dozens of contracts with ICE and CBP, Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/google-amazon-microsoft-ice-cbp-third-party-contracts-cloud-2021-10

Here's the tech powering ICE's deportation crackdown | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/08/heres-the-tech-powering-ices-deportation-crackdown/

Who's Behind ICE: The Tech and Data Companies Fueling Deportations, Mijente, Immigrant Defense Project, & National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild https://mijente.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/WHO%E2%80%99S-BEHIND-ICE_-The-Tech-and-Data-Companies-Fueling-Deportations_v3-.pdf

Microsoft Leadership Tries to Qwell Employee Backlash Over ICE Contract, The Hill https://thehill.com/policy/technology/393176-microsoft-leadership-tries-to-quell-employee-backlash-over-ice-contract/

Like "IBM's Work During the Holocaust": Inside Microsoft, Growing Outrage Over a Contract with ICE, Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/microsoft-employees-azure-ice-partnership

Number of people in ICE detention reaches record high, data shows, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/trump-ndaa-military-spending

Complicity in genocide in Sudan:

Everything You Need to Know: Microsoft is Bankrolling Genocide in Sudan, Boycat Times https://blog.boycat.io/posts/everything-you-need-to-know-microsoft-uae-genocide-sudan

Microsoft and political lobbying:

Microsoft Leads Lobbying Blitz to Fend of WA Wealth Tax, The Seattle Times https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/microsoft-leads-lobbying-blitz-to-fend-off-wa-wealth-tax/

Amazon, Alaska, Costo, Microsoft, Nordstrom asking Washington to skip payroll, wealth tax, KOMO News https://komonews.com/news/local/amazon-alaska-costco-microsoft-nordstrom-washington-payroll-wealth-tax-budget-shortfall-debt-seattle-olympia-economy-money

A breakdown of Washington's new $78B two-year state budget, Cascade PBS https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2025/04/breakdown-washingtons-new-78b-two-year-state-budget/

AI‘s Impact and Microsoft:

Microsoft Expects to Spend 80 Billion on AI Data Center in fiscal 2025, CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/03/microsoft-expects-to-spend-80-billion-on-ai-data-centers-in-fy-2025.html

'Roadmap' Shows the Environmental Impacts of AI Data Center Boom, David Nutt, Cornell Chronicle - November 10, 2025 https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/11/roadmap-shows-environmental-impact-ai-data-center-boom

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King County Divestment For Justice
Seattle, WA

To: King County Executive Girmay Zahilay
From: [Your Name]

Dear King County Executive Girmay Zahilay,

We are members of the King County community writing to express our growing concern about the influence of Microsoft within King County government. Many in our community were already alarmed by the company’s prominent role during your transition process. Now, as your administration begins its term, we are even more concerned about the ongoing business relationships between King County and Microsoft and the potential influence those relationships may have on county governance and decision-making.
Microsoft’s business practices raise serious concerns and stand in conflict with King County’s stated commitments to equity, human rights, and the protection of immigrant, migrant, refugees, and other vulnerable communities.

Microsoft has faced widespread criticism for providing cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data infrastructure used by the Israeli military, including technologies that facilitate mass surveillance across Palestine and support military operations in Gaza. These actions have been scrutinized by international bodies such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, as well as human rights organizations including Amnesty International, which have documented serious violations of international law.

Microsoft workers—including many here in King County—have called on their employer to end contracts linked to these harms. Many of those calls have gone unanswered, and some employees have faced retaliation for speaking out.

Microsoft has also maintained contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reportedly worth more than $19 million, providing cloud and artificial intelligence technologies used for data processing and surveillance in immigration enforcement. ICE’s raids, detention practices, and deportations have had devastating consequences for migrant communities across the country.

King County law restricts the use of county resources for immigration enforcement and commits the county to advancing equity, fairness, and access to services for all residents regardless of immigration status. These commitments are codified in King County Code 2.15. Leadership within King County should reflect and uphold these values, rather than deepen relationships with corporations whose technologies enable systems that harm the very communities our policies are intended to protect.

In addition, Microsoft, Amazon, and other major corporations headquartered in our region have actively lobbied against progressive tax reforms in Washington, including proposals for a wealth tax that could generate billions of dollars for essential public services including in our county. We are fully aware of the county's budget shortfall and Microsoft as well as Amazon contribute to this by lobbying against fair taxation.
Washington already has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country, placing the greatest burden on low- and middle-income residents while the wealthiest corporations and individuals contribute proportionally far less.

At the same time, our communities face a severe housing crisis, rising costs of living, and cuts to critical public services, including behavioral health programs, addiction recovery programs, higher education, healthcare, elder (senior) care services, and services for children and families. These cuts come at a time when the social safety nets our communities rely on are under increasing strain.

Microsoft’s actions demonstrate a pattern of prioritizing corporate profit and political influence over community wellbeing and international human rights. At a moment when our communities face intersecting crises—from housing instability and economic inequality to state violence, deportations, and global violence—we cannot afford to deepen partnerships with corporations whose business practices contribute to these harms.

King County residents deserve leadership guided by the voices and needs of community members, workers, and advocates who represent the diversity of our county—not by corporations with significant financial interests in government contracts and policy outcomes.

We call on your administration to take the following steps to ensure King County governance remains accountable to the public and aligned with our community’s values:

1. Terminate County Relationships with Microsoft and Brad Smith: Immediately end all formal and informal partnerships, advisory roles, and business relationships between King County and Microsoft and its leadership, including Brad Smith.
2. Cut All Ties with War, Genocide, and Deportation Profiteers: End all business relationships, contracts, and partnerships with corporations complicit in war profiteering, genocide, mass surveillance, and deportations, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Palantir.
3. End Corporate Capture of County Governance: End the corporate and oligarch capture of King County governance and advance a working people-first agenda centered on working families, labor, and community needs—not corporate interests or political elites.
4. Block Federal Surveillance and End County Cooperation with Repressive Agencies: Block all federal surveillance and enforcement networks—including the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and ICE—from operating in or through King County to target immigrants, workers, organizers, and activists. Mandate that county law enforcement and agencies cease all cooperation, data-sharing, joint operations, task forces, and intelligence partnerships with these federal entities.
5. Remove Surveillance Camera's (CTTV), Camera mapping-- end the use of Automated License Plate Reader's (ALPR), and GPS Vehicle Tracking.
6. Ban the use of surveillance tech like Flock, Biometrics, Facial Recognition Software, Paragon Solutions tools called Graphite, and any other spyware technology that invades the privacy of our phones and our daily activity and movement.
7. End ICE Air Operations in King County: Shut down all ICE Air operations operating in or through King County airports that facilitate deportations. This includes ending any cooperation with charter flight providers.
8. Defend Free Speech, Labor Rights, and Political Organizing: End political censorship and repression/retaliation against county workers and affirm protections for free speech, political speech, union activity, labor organizing and collective organizing.