Palantir Technologies has drawn scrutiny over its role in supporting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that track and arrest undocumented immigrants using data drawn from government databases, according to a 28 January report by Fortune. ICE uses a Palantir-developed system known as ELITE, which pulls information from Medicaid and other federal databases to generate profiles of individuals the agency considers deportable. The Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that the tool aggregates large volumes of government data into a single searchable, AI-enabled interface, and Palantir also has access to data held by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which manages citizenship and immigration applications.

The company has expanded its contracts with US authorities in recent years. In 2025, Palantir received a $30 million contract to build an AI platform called ImmigrationOS designed to track immigrants’ movements. Separately, ICE signed a $4.5 million contract with BI2 Technologies for an iris-scanning system that allows agents to identify individuals in the field using smartphones connected to a national law enforcement database. These developments have occurred alongside an increase in public demonstrations against ICE operations, particularly following the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good during enforcement actions, incidents that were recorded on video and widely circulated.

Palantir’s activities also extend beyond US immigration enforcement. Founded in 2003 by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel and initially backed by the CIA’s venture capital arm In-Q-Tel, the firm provides data analytics and AI platforms to multiple US government agencies, including the Department of Defense and the FBI. The company also supplies technology to the Israeli military, where its systems analyse intelligence data and generate lists of alleged militant targets. Palantir’s chief executive has said the company’s tools can be used across a wide range of government functions, from military intelligence to tax enforcement, and the firm continues to maintain close relationships with senior figures in the US administration.