For years, little was known about the multibillion-dollar company that handles data for the US immigration enforcement agency. Now, a cache of emails, training documents and reports sheds light on how Palantir helps Ice with investigations and on-the-ground enforcement

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/46573950

For years, little was known about how Ice uses Palantir’s technology. The company has consistently described itself as a “data processor” and says it does not play an active role in any of its customers’ data collection efforts or what clients do with that information.

Now, a cache of internal Ice documents – including hundreds of pages of emails between Ice and Palantir, as well as training manuals, and reports on the use of Palantir products – offer some of the first real-world examples of how Ice has used Palantir in its investigations and during on-the-ground enforcement operations.

The documents, which were obtained by immigrant legal rights group Just Futures Law through a Freedom of Information Act request and reviewed by the Guardian, largely cover Palantir’s contract with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative arm of Ice that is responsible for stopping the “illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology”.

Palantir recently won a $30m contract to build the government a new platform called ImmigrationOS that will service Ice branches beyond HSI, and aims to “streamline” the identification and deportation of immigrants. While the documents are largely limited to HSI’s operations, it’s easy to see how the tools could be of use to other branches of Ice.

One document showed that agents could use Falcon to search for people’s names, known locations, vehicles or passport information against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal databases like the Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) – a vast database that holds biometric and personal information on anyone who has been encountered or arrested, detained or deported by any DHS agency – on the go.

In addition to collecting and analyzing field interviews, the agents used Falcon for “blueforce tracking”, a military term for tracking someone’s GPS location. Training documents show Ice agents could also use Falcon to track a person’s location, including their “route and movement”, hour by hour using cell phone tower records.

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
    12·
    19 hours ago

    Experts warn that, in light of the Trump administration’s threats to crack down on “far-left” groups, the scope of application for Palantir’s tools could only grow. Already, a new report from the Intercept revealed HSI subpoenaed and received information from Google about international students who were being investigated over their pro-Palestinian activism.

    “Now [with access to more federal databases] Ice can use this type of surveillance apparatus on anyone – not only anyone who is undocumented but anyone who this administration wants to criminalize and anyone who the administration wants to put under surveillance,” said González of MediaJustice.

    "Time and time again, you’re seeing Ice act in ways that are incredibly violent and aggressive. It does have a chilling effect. When you know they have a technology that can track relationships, your conversations, and your organizing activity, that can be a silencing force.”

    Meanwhile we have Peter Thiel telling us we can’t have regulations applied to tech bc doing so will lead to authoritarian rule. Trump’s science advisor Michael Kratsios is helping him make sure there is no red tape standing in his way.

    But if we don’t have regulations, what he is building will also clearly lead to an authoritarian rule. But I guess he will be in charge, so it’s ok?

    Additionally, with the help of Thomas Massie, he gets rid of the federal reserve, destroy the U.S. dollar and replace it with gold and crypto.

    So the dollar will collapse, and with Thiel as our unchecked authoritarian leader, our entire lives will be constantly surveilled, our data will be collected and exploited, and it turns out Thiel has a crypto company he’s started with all those billions in soon to be useless American dollars that he stole or received in government contracts. Like our forefathers always dreamed about.