Over the last few weeks multiple media outlets have reported on data analytics company Palantir’s closer collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the agency carries out Trump’s mass deportation efforts. 404 Media first reported that Palantir was awarded tens of millions of dollars to work on improving ICE’s immigration targeting and enforcement systems. A day later, 404 Media published an article based on internal Palantir Slacks and a wiki which showed the company was engaged on a six-month project to help find the location of people flagged for deportation. That same day, ICE published a procurement document laying out similar details of the project, called “ImmigrationOS,” Business Insider reported.
WIRED then reported that DOGE is building a master database to track down immigrants, likely to be hosted on Palantir-developed software. Last week CNN corroborated that reporting and said that Palantir is involved in building the database. U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly said in a letter to the oversight body for the Social Security Administration (SSA) that an agency whistleblower told them the “master database” will use data from SSA, IRS, and Health and Human Services (HHS). 404 Media also reported that ICE plans to bring together data from HHS, the Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Internally Palantir has justified its closer relationship with ICE because it believes its work can promote “efficiency, transparency, and accountability” and “enable fair treatment” of immigrants. ICE continues to deport some people with no due process.
It is rare for outsiders to see a tech company’s justification for working on such a divisive project. For that reason 404 Media is publishing the full wiki page in which Palantir discusses the project and the ethics around it.
404 Media has retyped the wiki to protect the source who provided it and spelled out some acronyms where necessary.
A Palantir spokeswoman told 404 Media in an email “Palantir's work with the U.S. Government has spanned many administrations, as we have worked with the Department of Homeland Security since 2010 and are non-partisan. While unfortunate that this internal communication has leaked, we hope it reflects the careful consideration that we apply to all our sensitive work. It is core to who we are to maximize our team's collective perspective and hold as sacred dialogue and debate around our work given the power of our platforms.”