France finance minister urges Capgemini to explain ICE contract

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France’s finance minister Roland Lescure urged lawmakers to press Capgemini for “extremely transparent” answers about a contract the French technology firm signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as political and public scrutiny grows around how ICE supports the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Lescure said the company should clarify its activities and the “nature” of its work, speaking late Tuesday to French lawmakers as the contract became a focus of debate. The comments followed statements from Capgemini’s chief executive, Aiman Ezzat, who said he had only recently been informed of the deal.

Ezzat said he had received notice of the contract awarded to Capgemini Government Solutions, known as CGS, after it had been signed in December. He described the scope of the work as raising questions compared with what Capgemini typically does as a business and technology firm.

In a message posted on LinkedIn, Ezzat said CGS’s independent board had begun reviewing the contract’s content and scope, along with CGS’s contracting procedures. He also said CGS operates within “separate governance and restrictions,” describing firewalled networks and limits designed to prevent the Capgemini Group from accessing certain classified information tied to the subsidiary’s technical operations.

Ezzat said CGS engages with the U.S. federal government and operates under an agreement that allows it to handle classified work while separating CGS’s operations from the Capgemini Group. He said the U.S. framework includes cleared independent U.S. directors controlling CGS’s board and that the parent could not access classified information, classified contracts, or information related to CGS’s technical operations.

Lescure, however, said he was not convinced by the claim that the subsidiary’s separate governance meant the parent company was unaware of the contract. He said the explanation was “not sufficient,” and he told lawmakers that a company that owns subsidiaries should know what is going on within them, adding that Capgemini had committed to do so.

The issue surfaced as U.S. enforcement of immigration rules has intensified in recent weeks, including in Minneapolis, where federal immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens.