A Meta Employee Who Just Lost Their Job Was Detained by Immigration Agents

一名刚被解雇的 Meta 员工遭移民局拘留

A former Meta employee who lost their job during a round of layoffs on May 20 is said to have been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days, according to communications inside the company seen by WIRED. 据《连线》（WIRED）看到的内部通讯显示，一名在 5 月 20 日裁员潮中失去工作的 Meta 前员工，据称近日被美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）拘留。

A current employee posted about the incident on an internal Meta messaging board for immigration topics this week. The initial post was marked as “urgent” and tagged two Meta executives who focus on immigration issues and employee risk, in an attempt to escalate the issue to them. 本周，一名在职员工在 Meta 内部专门讨论移民议题的留言板上发布了这一事件。最初的帖子被标记为“紧急”，并艾特了两位负责移民事务和员工风险的 Meta 高管，试图将此事上报给他们。

The current status of the detained worker is unknown. 目前，该被拘留员工的状况尚不清楚。

A spokesperson for Meta, Dave Arnold, declined to comment on the record. Representatives from ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security did not provide comment in time for publication. It is unclear whether the employee was detained by ICE, Customs and Border Protection, or another agency. Meta 发言人戴夫·阿诺德（Dave Arnold）拒绝发表正式评论。ICE 和美国国土安全部的代表未能在截稿前提供评论。目前尚不清楚该员工是被 ICE、海关及边境保护局（CBP）还是其他机构拘留。

Internal messages reviewed by WIRED indicate employees believe their former colleague was being detained in El Paso, Texas, where there is a major US-Mexico border crossing. On the other side is Ciudad Juárez, home to one of the largest US consular offices in the region and a common destination for visa processing. 《连线》查阅的内部消息显示，员工们认为他们的前同事被拘留在德克萨斯州的埃尔帕索（El Paso），那里有一个主要的美国与墨西哥边境口岸。边境的另一侧是华雷斯城（Ciudad Juárez），该市拥有该地区最大的美国领事馆之一，也是处理签证的常见目的地。

Many international employees at US tech companies work on H-1B visas, which allow firms to hire highly skilled foreign workers. These visas are tied to a specific employer. Workers who secure a new job need to adjust their immigration paperwork, sometimes by intentionally leaving and reentering the country. 许多美国科技公司的国际员工持有 H-1B 签证，该签证允许公司聘用高技能外国人才。这些签证与特定雇主挂钩。找到新工作的员工需要调整其移民文件，有时需要通过特意离境再入境的方式来完成。

WIRED was unable to confirm the worker’s nationality or what type of US visa they may have traveled on. 《连线》无法确认该员工的国籍，也无法确认他们持何种美国签证出行。

The incident marks a rare known instance of a corporate tech worker being taken into immigration custody since President Donald Trump launched dramatically escalated enforcement efforts across the country early last year, sparking widespread criticism. 自唐纳德·特朗普总统去年初在全国范围内大幅加强执法力度并引发广泛批评以来，这起事件是已知的少数几起企业科技员工被移民部门拘留的案例之一。

In May, Meta cut nearly 10 percent of its workforce, or roughly 8,000 people, as part of its ongoing efforts to make the company more efficient and offset the massive investments it is making into AI infrastructure. Numerous workers on visas were among those let go, according to employees familiar with the departures. 今年 5 月，Meta 裁减了近 10% 的员工，约 8,000 人。这是该公司为提高效率并抵消其在人工智能基础设施方面巨额投资所采取的持续举措的一部分。据知情员工透露，被裁人员中包括许多持有签证的员工。

A small community of Meta employees has demanded that the company do more to protect immigrant employees and contractors at risk of being detained or deported by ICE, including helping to pay for legal fees and allowing workers to avoid offices on days they fear immigration officials might be in the area. Amid what some employees describe as a lack of support from Meta, workers have begun organizing financial and logistical aid for colleagues in the US dealing with immigration issues. 一小部分 Meta 员工群体要求公司采取更多措施，保护面临被 ICE 拘留或驱逐风险的移民员工和合同工，包括协助支付法律费用，并允许员工在担心移民官员可能出现在该区域的日子里避免前往办公室。在一些员工称 Meta 支持不足的情况下，员工们已开始为在美国处理移民问题的同事组织经济和后勤援助。

Under the Trump administration, immigration authorities have been arresting tens of thousands of people a month, with about 60,000 people in detention centers as of early April, according to researchers. Tech offices have not been much of a target for raids. But in January, immigration authorities arrested two workers traveling to a Meta data center construction site. 据研究人员称，在特朗普政府领导下，移民当局每月逮捕数万人，截至 4 月初，拘留中心内约有 60,000 人。科技公司办公室此前并非突击搜查的主要目标。但在 1 月份，移民当局逮捕了两名正在前往 Meta 数据中心施工现场的工人。