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Amazon has faced sustained criticism from immigration activists since 2017, when a report in The Intercept revealed the company's software was being licensed by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and used in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. No Music For ICE, a collection of musicians protesting Amazon's partnership with ICE announced on Wednesday that the activist group will picket Amazon-sponsored events at SWSW 2020 in Austin, Texas.
In its statement, No Music For ICE encouraged "all artists, music fans, and supporters of basic human rights" to join the boycott of Amazon's events. "Musicians should not provide credibility or cool points to a company that plays a direct role in the US government’s brutal separation of families and cruel attacks on immigrant communities."
No Music For ICE's listed demands for Amazon include a cessation of all collaboration with any branch of government that commits human rights abuses, withholding all proprietary software that could be used to deport an undocumented individual, and the termination of Amazon Web Services's ongoing facial recognition project.
Over 1,000 musicians have signed No Music For Ice's petition, launched in October 2019. JPEGMAFIA and The Black Madonna pulled out of Intersect Festival, an event backed by Amazon, after the company's involvement was revealed.