New York City Doesn't Need Google.

New York City is a sanctuary city. City law prohibits agencies from cooperating with ICE. Policy says immigrants are protected.

Then the city signs checks to Google.

Google holds a cloud contract with Customs and Border Protection. CBP is the agency conducting raids in NYC neighborhoods right now. Google also sits on a $9 billion Pentagon cloud deal. Google created an entire subsidiary, Google Public Sector LLC, specifically to chase military and law enforcement contracts.

Every dollar NYC pays Google goes to a company that arms the deportation machine. 50 Google workers staged a sit-in at the Chelsea office to protest these contracts. Google fired them.

We've identified 94 contracts with Google-related vendors across 10+ agencies. Checkbook NYC shows $140M+ in single-day payments — $70M each to CDW Government for Google Cloud.

The real total is buried in subcontracts, renewals, and centralized purchasing agreements. Annual spend likely reaches hundreds of millions. NYC routes purchases through IT resellers like CDW — 35+ contracts holding the terms the public never sees.

See all 94 contracts →

NYC Cyber Command — cybersecurity for 100+ city agencies — runs entirely on Google Cloud. The Department of Education put 1.1 million students on Google Workspace. 350,000 Chromebooks in classrooms.

Google gets the money. Google gets the data. New York City gets vendor lock-in, systems it doesn't own, and no exit plan.

1.1 million public school students on Google Workspace. 350,000 Chromebooks in classrooms across every borough.

New York State Ed-Law 2-d says companies must sign privacy agreements before handling student data. Google won't sign for YouTube, Maps, or Search — the services students use every day through their school accounts.

The Department of Education signed the contracts anyway.

$307 billion in revenue in 2023. Record year. Google laid off 12,000 people. Locked their accounts before telling them.

Half of Google's workforce are temps and contractors. Same desks. Lower pay. No security.

Google's AI gets trained by workers in Kenya making $1.32 an hour. Violent content. Traumatic material. Minimal support.

When workers organized, Google ran "Project Vivian" — an anti-union operation with hired consultants. The NLRB found Google illegally fired organizers. Google settled gender discrimination claims from 15,500 women for $118 million.

$2.1 billion poured into NYC real estate. Chelsea. Hudson Square. 12,000+ employees. City tax incentives helped make it happen.

What did New York get back? Vendor lock-in on contracts it can't find in its own transparency tools. Systems it doesn't own. Code it can't audit. Data it can't move.

Every year, the cycle continues. Public money flows to a company that surveils children, arms border enforcement, exploits workers, hides its contracts, and fires anyone who objects.