Harvard Law Students Demand Divestment From Tech Giants, Ban on Law Firms They Say Enable ICE

Roughly 50 Harvard Law School students rallied Wednesday outside Wasserstein Hall, urging the University to divest from major tech companies they say help power immigration enforcement and to cut recruiting ties with law firms they allege collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At the rally, organized by an ad-hoc coalition of law students, speakers amplified demands outlined in a petition now circulating among students. The petition describes the University's investments as a direct contribution to “the machinery of mass deportations” and urges Harvard to divest from five major tech companies.

The petition names Palantir, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft, alleging that the companies provide the data infrastructure, cloud computing, and surveillance technology that powers immigration enforcement. It states that Harvard has invested $903 million collectively into the five companies.

In particular, organizers cited Palantir’s ImmigrationOS system, which uses data mining and artificial intelligence to track and flag noncitizens for deportation, and pointed to Meta for recently running Department of Homeland Security advertisements targeting Spanish speakers and people interested in Mexican cuisine to encourage immigrants to self-deport.

Spokespeople for HLS and the University did not respond to requests for comment. All five companies named in the petition did not respond to a request for comment.

Harvard Management Company invested around $252 million in Alphabet, $237 million in Microsoft, $157 million in Amazon, and $120 million in Meta at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, according to publicly available 13F filings.

The petition also claims that Harvard holds $135 million in Palantir through a trust. But filings from the second quarter of 2025 onward show that Harvard’s endowment held no direct stake in the Invesco QQQ Trust — which allocates roughly 2 percent of its assets to Palantir — at the close of any fiscal quarter.

Second-year law student and lead organizer Kayleigh A. Hasson wrote in a statement that “it’s not clear whether they’ve fully divested from companies such as Palantir,” citing how HMC’s holdings in QQQ can shift between 13F filing deadlines.

A spokesperson for HMC did not respond to a request for comment.

Organizers are also demanding that OCS suspend outreach from four private law firms — Latham & Watkins, Davis Wright Tremaine, Greenberg Traurig, and Fox Rothschild — and several U.S. Attorney’s offices that the petition says have collaborated with ICE within the past year.

All four law firms did not respond to a request for comment.

The petition calls on the firms and federal agencies to publicly pledge in writing not to represent companies that facilitate ICE operations before being allowed back on campus.

“By hosting these firms and US Attorney’s Offices on campus to recruit students, Harvard encourages us to spend our careers and talents defending violent oppression,” it states.

“Harvard is funneling students into firms that represent ICE contractors and their private prisons and U.S. Attorney’s offices which not only defend deportations and prosecute immigrants, but also prosecute protesters and people who dare to defy the system,” third-year law student Ariel N. Boone said at the rally.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

Boone labeled OCS as “complicit” in a recruiting process that leads “students to engage in deporting families.”

Hasson urged attendees to seek out firms that have not worked with ICE.

“We have the power to choose where we want to work, and we have the power to call on our institution to do better,” Hasson said.

First-year law student Anabel S. Masaschi said she has “met so many people at Harvard who have been impacted by the ICE raids.”

“Harvard is a place that promotes Big Law regardless of the activities of the firms that they’re promoting,” she added.

Diego A. Sarmiento, a first-year law student, said he was inspired to speak because he comes from a city with a large undocumented population. Sarmiento said his academic experiences have deepened his concern, pointing to moments when he felt discussions of immigration enforcement and constitutional rights were brushed aside.

“Other examples were more just being dismissive through silence because it would never be acknowledged,” Sarmiento said. “When we’re talking about constitutional law, we’re not talking about the current crisis of constitutional rights being violated.”

“The classroom is a very neutral, very apolitical setting,” he added.

Organizers said they plan to submit the petition to HLS administrators before the end of the semester and to collaborate with groups across Harvard’s graduate schools to discuss immigration resources.

“I think that the most important thing to me feels like keeping the pressure on the administration and keeping momentum among students to realize their collective power,” Hasson said.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.

—Staff writer Sierra R. Pape can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @SierraRPape.