Being patriotic means you also need to call out “overreach” when you see it, Sam Altman privately told OpenAI employees in a message that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had gone “too far.”
“I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” the OpenAI CEO wrote in an internal Slack message. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”
OpenAI employees responded positively to Altman’s message on Slack, including heart and thank-you emojis.
Altman’s message, which was first reported by The New York Times’ Dealbook newsletter, comes as CEO and tech leaders face internal and external pressures in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday. Pretti is the second person to be fatally shot by federal law enforcement amid a surge in immigration enforcement in and around Minneapolis.
Altman also praised Trump’s leadership in his message and expressed hope that the president could cool tensions — the latest example of a CEO attempting to balance being critical of actions tied to the Trump administration’s policies while also staying on the president’s good side.
“President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country,” Altman wrote. “I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.”
As a general principle, Altman wrote that OpenAI tries to “stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much.”
On Monday, the White House appeared to be recalibrating its response in the wake of significant criticism, including from some congressional Republicans.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to associate Trump with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller’s initial statements that Pretti was trying to commit domestic terrorism.
Read Sam Altman’s message to employees
I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too. But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right. President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country. I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations. As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much. We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else. But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.
Correction: January 27, 2026 — Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol, not ICE.
Do you work at OpenAI? Contact the reporter from a non-work email and device at bgriffiths@businessinsider.com
