France's finance minister demands tech firm Capgemini explain ICE contract

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PARIS (AP) — France's finance minister is urging French tech company Capgemini to be fully transparent over a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as calls grow for scrutiny of the agency's role in enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The company, which employs more than 340,000 people in more than 50 countries, signed a contract with ICE in December via its subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions (CGS).

“I urge Capgemini to shed light, in an extremely transparent manner, on its activities, on this policy, and undoubtedly to question the nature of these activities,” Finance Minister Roland Lescure told French lawmakers late Tuesday.

Lescure comments came after Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat said he recently was made aware of the contract awarded to CGS.

“The nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm,” Ezzat said in a message posted on LinkedIn. “In full respect of the separate governance and restrictions of CGS, I have been informed that the independent board of directors has already begun the process of reviewing the content and scope of this contract and CGS contracting procedures.”

Ezzat said that CGS engages with the U.S. federal government and operates under an agreement allowing it to handle classified work that requires separation of its operations from the Capgemini Group.

“This creates many restrictions, notably CGS has a board that is controlled by ‘cleared’ independent U.S. directors, decision making is separate, networks are firewalled, and the Capgemini Group cannot access any classified information, classified contracts, or anything relating to the technical operations of CGS, as required by U.S. regulation,” he said.

Lescure said he was not convinced by the argument that the subsidiary has a separate governance structure, resulting in Capgemini not being aware of the contract that has been signed.

“I told them that this explanation was not sufficient,” he said. “And that the very least ... one can expect is that a company which owns subsidiaries should know what is going on within those companies, and that this is what Capgemini has committed to doing.”

Trump’s immigration crackdown has in recent weeks intensified in Minneapolis, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers.