- Deadly shootings by ICE agents are driving some CEOs to speak out after months of political restraint.
- Of those who have spoken up, some have moderated their language, while others have been more blunt.
- Speaking out — even indirectly — carries risk under a president known to threaten critics with retaliation.
The deadly shootings by ICE agents in Minnesota are driving some CEOs to publicly wade into politics again. It's a break from a corporate retreat fueled by fears of irking President Donald Trump, investors, consumers and others.
Their remarks in recent days range from expressions of grave concern and grief to blunt criticism.
More than 60 heads of large companies based in the Minneapolis area, including UnitedHealth, 3M, and General Mills, called for "deescalation of tensions" in an open letter that didn't mention Trump, ICE, or the shooting victims, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, by name.
Target's incoming CEO, who starts next week, sent a video message to staff in which he described the violence and loss of life in the local community as "incredibly painful;" he did not mention Trump or ICE directly.
Others have been more blunt. Big names in tech and venture capital, as well as small business owners around the country, have expressed outrage at the Trump administration and ICE on their own social media pages, using words like "murderer," "shameful," and "a conscious-less administration."
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, said "CEOs are feeling the community pressure."
He said that reactions that convey sorrow and don't mention Trump or ICE are likely to be perceived as an unwelcome challenge to the White House's immigration agenda. "That is not what the Trump administration wanted," he said.
A White House spokesperson referred Business Insider to press secretary Karoline Leavitt's remarks on X from a briefing on Monday, in which she said "nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets."
Leavitt also said the shooting of a US citizen in Minneapolis over the weekend was a tragedy that occurred "as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota."
The risk of blowback
Some CEOs who voiced dissent in the past have faced blowback.
Earlier this month, Trump said he was "inclined" to block ExxonMobil from operating in Venezuela after the company's CEO, Darren Woods, told him the country was not ready for investment.
Trump ally Elon Musk faced the president's ire after the tech leader maligned the president's spending bill in June. Trump responded by threatening to cancel government contracts with Musk's companies.
"It's probably still best for companies and CEOs to play it safe," said Michael Serazio, a communications professor at Boston College. "Trump can use all the levers of government, whether it be Department of Justice investigating your company, or some kind of tariff-based targeting of something that your company does."
Some CEOs have decided it's worth speaking up anyway.
Robert Pasin, CEO of toy company Radio Flyer, recently shared an email on LinkedIn that he sent to his employees that was critical of the shootings in Minneapolis.
"I am deeply concerned about the current state of our democracy, and the continued actions we are seeing from President Trump and his administration that are intended to undermine democratic institutions, the rule of law, and the norms that hold our country together," he wrote.
The response from staff at Chicago-based Radio Flyer was "overwhelmingly positive," Pasin told Business Insider.
During Trump's first term as president, CEOs talked about politics more freely, most notably after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020, and again after the January 6 riots.
"You previously had corporations embracing a much more, quote, woke positioning," said Serazio.
In recent years, some major CEOs have had a change of heart, going from Trump critic to Trump supporter. "It became a competition of who can suck up to him the most," said Serazio.
'Solidarity with my community'
Any public statement from a CEO carries the risk of alienating customers and shareholders. But some see taking a stand as necessary at times like this.
Lloyd Vogel, CEO of the outdoor retailer Garage Grown Gear, said he felt compelled to condemn the shootings in a LinkedIn post because he lives and works in the Twin Cities.
"My primary rationale was to show solidarity with my community," he told Business Insider. "It's also just bad for business when people are afraid to leave their homes."
Vogel described being so forthcoming on social media as nerve-racking, "especially in such a charged environment." But he added that doing so was one of the few levers he could pull.
"There's so much fear in Minnesota right now," he said. "It would just be cowardice to not have a perspective on this."
Jeff Berman, CEO of the US media company WaitWhat, also posted critical remarks on LinkedIn about the Trump administration's crackdown. He wishes more US leaders would do the same, especially those who helm big companies, since they are more likely to draw widespread attention.
What's holding most back, Berman said, is a narrow calculus focused on short-term shareholder pressure and fears of retaliation by Trump. Instead, he said CEOs should consider the long-term risks to all stakeholders — and to democracy itself.
"They stay quiet at their own peril," said Berman. "We know what happens in countries that follow this trajectory."
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