ICE to Use ImmigrationOS by Palantir, a New AI System, to Track Immigrants' Movements

American Immigration Council & Multiple Sources
2026

ICE granted a $30 million contract to Palantir Technologies to develop "ImmigrationOS," a surveillance platform designed for immigration enforcement operations. The system represents a significant expansion of Palantir's role in immigration surveillance and has drawn widespread criticism from civil liberties advocates.

IMMIGRATIONOS CAPABILITIES

ImmigrationOS is designed for three main functions:

1. To streamline the identification and apprehension of individuals prioritized for removal, such as "violent criminals," gang members, and visa overstays
2. To accurately track and report self-deportations with "near real-time visibility"
3. To make deportation logistics more efficient by improving how individuals are identified and removed from the U.S.

Additionally, Palantir is alleged to have created a tool called ELITE for ICE that uses government and commercial data to map neighborhoods, generate detailed dossiers on individuals, and assign "address confidence scores" to guide raids. Critics claim this technology enables ICE to target people indiscriminately, turning surveillance into aggressive and violent enforcement operations.

DATA INTEGRATION CONCERNS

Palantir's systems pull data from across government databases—including passport records, Social Security files, IRS tax data, and even license-plate reader data. The goal is to create a comprehensive, AI-driven profile of individuals that agencies can use to make faster and more efficient enforcement decisions.

Last year, ICE and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services signed a data-sharing agreement that would allow ICE to receive the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients.

MAJOR CRITICISMS

Palantir's work with government agencies like ICE has long been a source of controversy, with critics arguing the company's data analytics tools enable harmful immigration enforcement. ImmigrationOS will pull together vast amounts of data, detect patterns, and flag individuals who meet certain criteria, raising concerns about potential impacts on civil liberties in America.

SHIFT IN POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE

The Comptroller characterizes Palantir's expanded involvement with ERO as a reversal of the company's 2020 position to decline certain contracts due to risks of "disproportionate immigration enforcement."

The letter from the New York City Comptroller calls for the company's independent directors to commission and oversee an independent third-party human-rights risk assessment of Palantir's contracts with DHS, including ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). The request seeks disclosure of non-proprietary findings and recommendations to address concerns over legal, reputational, and civil-rights risks.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE

The progressive grassroots organization Our Revolution protested at Palantir's Palo Alto office on February 5th over its contracts with ICE. Employee activism has pushed the issue into corporate workplaces, with over 250 employees at tech firms including Amazon, Palantir, Google and Tesla urging their employers to cancel ICE contracts.

The backlash has exposed sharp divisions within the Silicon Valley firm, where staff have long debated the moral cost of government contracts tied to immigration enforcement.
