Former Meta Worker Detained by ICE After May Layoffs

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days, according to internal company messages reviewed by Wired. A current Meta employee posted about the detention on an internal messaging board for immigration topics this week.

The post was marked “urgent” and tagged two Meta executives who focus on immigration issues and employee risk. The current status of the detained former worker is unknown. It is also unclear whether the employee was detained by ICE, Customs and Border Protection, or another agency.

Internal messages indicate employees believe their former colleague was being held in El Paso, Texas. -Mexico border crossing.

U.S. Consular offices in the region and serves as a common site for visa processing. U.S. visa they may have held.

U.S. Tech companies work on H-1B visas, which allow firms to hire highly skilled foreign workers and are tied to a specific employer. Workers who secure a new job often must adjust their immigration paperwork, sometimes by intentionally leaving and reentering the country. Dave Arnold, a Meta spokesperson, declined to comment on the record.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not provide comment in time for publication. In May, Meta cut nearly 10 percent of its workforce, or roughly 8,000 people. Numerous workers on visas were among those let go, according to employees familiar with the departures.

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. In January, immigration authorities arrested two workers traveling to a Meta data center construction site.