Microsoft said it does not believe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using the company’s technology for “mass surveillance of civilians,” responding to a report that raised fresh questions about how federal immigration enforcement is using modern cloud and AI tools. Microsoft emphasized that its policies and terms of service prohibit its technology from being used for mass civilian surveillance, and it said it does not think ICE is engaged in that kind of activity.
The controversy was triggered by a report from The Guardian that said ICE significantly expanded its reliance on Microsoft’s cloud services while ramping up arrests and deportations. Apparently, the amount of data ICE stored in Microsoft Azure more than tripled over the six months leading up to January 2026, during a period of growing agency resources and rapid workforce expansion. It also said ICE appeared to be using Microsoft productivity tools and AI-driven products to search and analyze data held in Azure.
Microsoft acknowledged it provides “cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools” to ICE and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (of which ICE is a part), delivered through partners. But it sought to draw a line between supplying mainstream enterprise software and enabling large-scale civilian surveillance. Beyond its own contractual stance, Microsoft also urged U.S. institutions—Congress, the executive branch, and courts—to set “clear legal lines” for how law enforcement can use emerging technologies. That framing positions the company as calling for stronger governance rather than leaving boundaries to vendor policies or agency discretion alone.
ICE, for its part, declined to discuss specific investigative techniques or tools, citing operational sensitivity. It said it uses various forms of technology to support arrests of criminals. The debate is unfolding amid heightened criticism of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown from human-rights advocates, who argue enforcement has created an unsafe environment and lacks due process. The agency has become a symbol of the crackdown, especially after reports of fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens last month, which intensified public scrutiny of enforcement tactics and accountability.
Major tech firms have tried to improve relations with the Trump administration during his second term. At the same time, Microsoft has faced separate scrutiny over how governments use its services. In a prior episode, Microsoft disabled some services used by an Israeli military unit after preliminary evidence supported a media investigation alleging mass surveillance—an issue that also sparked internal protests at Microsoft and led to firings. The parallel underscores why the ICE questions are not only about one customer, but about the boundaries tech companies will enforce when state users deploy powerful data and AI systems.
