Simmering tensions over the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Minneapolis erupted into outright condemnation from multiple corners after the killing of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol officer over the weekend. One of the country’s most recognizable and influential tech companies could be caught in the crosshairs.
Per 404 Media’s report, ELITE works by tapping Medicaid data to help the agency identify and arrest people for deportation, mapping potential targets and providing a “confidence score” as to an individual’s current address. The tool, which builds on Palantir’s long-running role as a core data infrastructure provider for immigration enforcement, underscores how health and benefits information that many Americans assume is walled off is increasingly being repurposed for surveillance and policing.
The latest controversy over Palantir’s involvement in immigration enforcement operations lands at a volatile moment for immigration policy under President Donald Trump’s second administration, which has vowed to expand deportations and lean more heavily on data-driven tools to find people believed to be in the U.S. unlawfully.
As for the reports that ICE agents are using Medicaid data to track deportation targets, experts have warned that the move could have a chilling effect on health care, discouraging immigrant families from seeking adequate coverage or treatment, while also pointing out the difficulty of separating medical data by immigrants’ legal status in the U.S.
“Big Tech, including Palantir, is increasingly complicit, normalizing authoritarianism under the guise of a ‘revolution’ led by oligarchs,” they wrote.
