Peter Thiel’s Palantir helped ICE separate families

Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The tech world’s vampire-in-chief has reportedly been helping ICE deport families. 

A new document unearthed by a coalition of immigrant rights foundations shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used software provided by Peter Thiel’s big data company, Palantir, to identify and prosecute the U.S. family members of migrant children found crossing the border. First reported by the Latinx political organizing group Mijente, the documents refute Palantir’s earlier statement implying that its ICE contract did not concern the agency’s family separation and deportation efforts.

ICE has been a growing cause of concern among U.S. citizens and immigrant rights advocates, especially after its family separation and child detention practices came to light in 2018. 

The Palantir revelation could fuel efforts to disrupt tech companies’ cooperation and contracts with ICE, a government agency allegedly responsible for multiple human rights violations. Employees asked Palantir leadership to cancel the ICE contract, to no avail. Microsoft faced public and internal backlash when employees criticized its contract with ICE in June 2018. Now, as reported by Gizmodo, a California lawmaker is proposing a bill that would cancel state contracts with tech firms that share data with ICE. 

“The state has a moral obligation to protect its residents from persecution,” the bill reads.

A 2017 report from The Intercept detailed how Palantir helped power ICE’s immigration enforcement efforts. Palantir is a “data firm” founded by early Facebook investor and Trump pal Peter Thiel. Palantir got a $41 million contract from ICE to provide a case management system.

When Palantir renewed the contract in December 2018, it attempted to draw a line in its work with ICE, implying that it helped ICE manage its workflow systems, but did not participate in the part of the organization that carried out family separations. 

Now, that statement rings hollow. The documents show that ICE specifically used Palantir software to help it identify and build cases against the family members of children ICE found migrating to the U.S. Previously, Palantir CEO Alex Karp told the New York Times “we’re proud that we’re working with the U.S. government.”

Palantir is expected to go public this year. But with Thiel at the helm, and billions in the bank, it’s unclear if moral objections will stop the company from helping ICE separate more families.