ImmigrationOS by Palantir: Trump’s new tool to ‘completely’ track immigrants’ lives

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has signed a $29.8 million contract with the tech company Palantir to develop software that tracks information on immigrants who are either in the country without permission or whose visas have expired, with the aim of facilitating deportations, according to 404 Media.

Organizations such as Amnesty International and legal experts consider the measure a violation of human rights. “An aberration,” says Ricard Martínez, director of the Chair of Privacy and Digital Transformation at the University of Valencia in Spain.

Palantir is founded by tycoon Peter Thiel, a partner of Elon Musk, who has not responded to EL PAÍS’s requests for information. It has promised to develop the software, even though it contradicts the company’s own human rights policy.

The tracking platform, named Immigration Lifecycle Operating System, or ImmigrationOS, is designed, according to ICE, to save “time and resource expenditure” when selecting and detaining “violent criminals,” “affiliates of known transnational criminal organizations,” or migrants who have overstayed their visa.

It will also provide “near real-time” tracking of individuals who have decided to leave the country. According to the contract, which has been shared by several media outlets, ImmigrationOS will streamline “end to end immigration lifecycle from identification to removal.”

The prototype of the program commissioned from Palantir is expected to be delivered on September 25 and will last for two years. It responds to executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who considers irregular immigration a significant threat to national security.

Palantir has collaborated with the U.S. Armed Forces, tax collection agencies, the FBI, and, most recently, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was initially led by Elon Musk.

The company has been providing programs for ICE since 2011 and, according to Business Insider, ImmigrationOS is a modification of a contract signed by the Biden administration in 2022. That contract allocated $95.9 million to assist the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department “to advance its mission of investigating and preventing transnational crime and high-level threats that exploit international trade, travel, and financial infrastructure.”

The program being developed by Palantir gathers biographical and biometric data from government databases to identify immigrants, including those who may have entered the country legally but have expired permits, to facilitate deportations.

The program allows people to be grouped according to dozens of different categories, such as their origin, entry into the country, or residency permit status, according to the 404 Media report. It can also identify them using data like hair or eye color, license plate numbers, vehicle geolocation, or the presence of scars and tattoos, which may be used to prejudge alleged gang affiliations.

Ricard Martínez describes the program as “aberrant,” “barbaric,” “unethical,” and “a violation of human rights.”

Likhita Banerji, head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab and deputy director of the Amnesty Tech program at Amnesty International, agrees: “The new deepening of Palantir’s ties with ICE through these new contracts is alarming for the human rights of dozens of immigrants and people seeking safety in the United States.”

Martínez explains that these new developments have their roots in measures already implemented, especially after the September 11 attacks, which began with demands for data from airlines and multinational companies outside the U.S.

“But what is happening now significantly escalates the level of human rights violations because it establishes a methodology of total social control to maximize the efficiency of immigration agencies in deporting immigrants and persuading them to leave. It is simply abhorrent because it strips human beings of all dignity and all rights,” he adds.

The professor argues that, although all countries limit certain rights for foreigners, these restrictions are political in nature, linked to citizenship status or, in exceptional cases, because there is a risk to national security. “But regardless of their method of entry, they are fully entitled to their fundamental rights. They have, of course, the right to privacy, to their own image, to education, to not be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, and to a fair trial, among others,” he explains.

According to Martínez, the Trump administration’s system aims to “completely monitor a human being’s life, including biometric tracking and geolocation.” “The goal is to have absolute control over a certain category of people and completely curtail their freedom,” he adds.

In this regard, Martínez explains that this tracking technology prevents, for example, an immigrant from going to the doctor, purchasing credit cards, using Wi-Fi that facilitates geolocation, or walking in places with facial recognition cameras.

“It turns the person, for their own survival, into a subject devoid of all rights, and this also affects the family: they won’t be able to take their children to school or to the doctor,” he says. “It’s simply intolerable because it deprives people of all their rights. The destructive and sobering effect of this technology will turn immigrants into little more than subhumans.”

Martínez not only blames the Trump administration but also the tech companies that have created and facilitated the ecosystem allowing such actions, neglecting their social responsibility.

Banerji also shares this view: “Private technologies have become a ubiquitous and risky tool for shaping and implementing asylum and migration management policies in numerous states around the world. These technologies can systemically fuel racism, discrimination, and oppression, and are routinely used to further racist and xenophobic agendas.”

She continues: “Technologies used in asylum and migration management can also be problematic in and of themselves, as their systems are vulnerable to bias and errors or lead to the collection, storage, and use of information that threatens the right to privacy, non-discrimination, and other human rights.”

Martínez openly criticizes this way of thinking: “Palantir is ideologically aligned with the Trump administration, and its ethics favor totalitarianism.”

Banerji also points to the company’s direct responsibility for actions she considers unlawful. In this regard, she argues that “contractors like Palantir, who are providing systems to support President Donald Trump’s plan to implement a mass deportation campaign, must recognize that these policies will be based on mass arrests, detentions, and expulsions of both long-stay community members and newcomers, in flagrant violation of their human rights.”

Banerji does not believe in this alleged ethical commitment from Palantir and other tech companies: “Numerous companies providing these types of technologies have a history of blatant disregard for human rights. It’s time for them to be held accountable for the human rights harm they have caused or contributed to.”

Martínez contrasts the situation in the United States with that in Europe, where “temptations to monitor citizens” have been met with judicial rulings that have halted them at the highest level. In all areas considered to be risky, even in police investigations, an appropriate legal basis and oversight by independent authorities are required. “Within the framework of the European Union, no system like Palantir’s would pass a fundamental rights impact assessment,” he says.