London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

House Caucus Heads Ask Why Google Hired A Former DHS Staffer Who Worked On Family Separation

House Caucus Heads Ask Why Google Hired A Former DHS Staffer Who Worked On Family Separation

“We find it alarming when companies choose to reward and hire individuals that have played active roles in implementing cruel policies that target and hurt the communities we represent and Google is no exception.”

The three leaders for House caucuses representing racial minority interests signed a letter on Wednesday asking Google why it hired a former Department of Homeland Security staffer who worked on a version of the Muslim travel ban and helped implement the controversial family separation policy.

Addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the letter -signed by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquin Castro, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu -noted its members were “deeply troubled” by the hiring of Miles Taylor, a former DHS chief of staff who defended policies that Google’s leaders had previously denounced. He joined the company in September as a government affairs and public policy manager.

“As one of the world’s largest tech companies, it is crucial that Google take seriously its role in practicing its values of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the letter read. “We find it alarming when companies choose to reward and hire individuals that have played active roles in implementing cruel policies that target and hurt the communities we represent and Google is no exception.”

The members' line of questioning echoes that coming from groups of Google employees, whose anger and confusion at Taylor’s September hiring has fueled internal rifts and a breakdown of trust between the company’s leaders and its rank and file. Last month, when employees attempted to ask questions about Taylor’s hiring following a BuzzFeed News report, Google censored some questions about the matter ahead of a companywide meeting known as TGIF. In the weeks since, Google has made it publicly known that it’s punishing alleged leakers and has cut down on the regularity and focus of its TGIF meetings, once a hallmark of the company’s open culture.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the letter or Taylor.

As a counselor to then–acting DHS secretary Elaine Duke in 2017, Taylor called the screening standards at US borders “no longer adequate to combat terrorism” as the agency recommended a “tough” and “tailored” policy to replace expiring parts of a Trump administration travel ban that barred visitors from six Muslim-majority countries. When that ban was first introduced in January 2017, Google cofounder Sergey Brin joined protesters at San Francisco International Airport and made public statements to voice his displeasure with the policy.


“Not only were many Americans appalled by these cruel immigration policies but even Google’s senior leadership and cofounders publicly denounced these policies,” the caucus leaders wrote in the letter, citing Brin’s actions.

Taylor went on to serve as the deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff to Kirstjen Nielsen, whom Trump appointed to the top DHS role in December 2017 and who oversaw the department’s controversial family separation policy at the southern border. In defending the company’s hiring of Taylor, Google executive Karan Bhatia told employees that Taylor was not involved in drafting the original Muslim travel ban and wasn't involved in family separation.

Following Bhatia’s comments, BuzzFeed News published internal DHS emails showing that Taylor had worked to shape talking points and narratives around family separation through the spring of 2018 as he served as Nielsen’s deputy chief of staff. Taylor left DHS around the time of Nielsen’s resignation this April.

“The idea that you could disassociate from a policy that consumed the entire department while you were deputy chief of staff is ridiculous,” one former DHS official told BuzzFeed News last month.

Recently, Google and Pichai have been trying to build bridges with the White House and President Trump, who had previously alleged the company’s products are biased against conservatives. In March, he met with Trump at the Oval Office; last month he hosted an event with Ivanka Trump focused on the creation of information technology jobs.

Castro, Bass, and Chu, whose caucuses represent more than half of all House Democrats, asked for a conversation with Google about Taylor’s hiring.

"This recent company hire appears to contradict Google’s own moral and ethical values and completely disregards the concerns expressed by many of your employees and customers that value immigrants and human rights,” they wrote.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×