Palantir's Deepening Alliance with ICE: A Blueprint for Mass Deportation

In a recent exposé by 404 Media, internal communications from Palantir Technologies reveal the company's intensified collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically in tracking and deporting individuals marked for removal.

Palantir's Chief Technology Officer, Akash Jain, disclosed in a Slack message that the company has been prototyping new data integrations and workflows with ICE. These efforts aim to provide immigration agents with enhanced awareness about the criminality and location of individuals who have received final orders of removal.

This collaboration includes a three-week development sprint with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Innovation Lab, focusing on improving agents' ability to locate and apprehend individuals slated for deportation.

Palantir's involvement with ICE isn't new. The company has previously developed tools like the Investigative Case Management (ICM) system and FALCON, which have been instrumental in ICE operations, including workplace raids and targeting family members of unaccompanied minors. (Afrotech, CounterPunch)

Despite public statements distancing itself from deportation activities, Palantir's technology has been used by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division, directly facilitating deportations. (Vice)

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have criticized Palantir for its role in enabling ICE's controversial practices, highlighting the company's failure to conduct adequate human rights due diligence. (Forbes)

The Response: You Are Not Powerless

This isn't just about one shady tech company helping a fascist-leaning agency hunt people down. This is a case study in how data becomes a weapon. It's not science fiction. It's not tomorrow. It's right now. So what the hell do we do about it?

1. Practice Operational Security (OpSec) Like It's Survival

If you're undocumented, an activist, a whistleblower, or simply someone who doesn't want to be tracked, you need to treat every digital footprint like it’s radioactive. Use Signal or Session for encrypted comms. Ditch Google — seriously. Use Tor Browser for anything even remotely sensitive. Mask your IP with a reliable no-logs VPN (like Mullvad).

2. De-Google Your Life

Palantir thrives on the glut of data we hand over. Every Gmail, every calendar sync, every GPS ping feeds the beast. Replace Chrome with Firefox hardened for privacy. Use GrapheneOS or CalyxOS if you're on Android. Stop feeding the corporate surveillance machine.

3. Know What’s Being Collected — and How

ICE and Palantir don’t rely just on your phone. They use license plate readers, financial data, and even family ties. If you're part of a vulnerable community, this means you need to think about what you share even in real life. Tighten your social networks. Harden your metadata exposure. Assume every database is hostile until proven otherwise.

4. Build Local Resistance Cells

Digital privacy is critical, but so is solidarity. Form local defense networks. Train each other. Share knowledge. Stand up for your neighbors. Learn how to organize. And do it quietly — not on Facebook.

5. Disrupt, Decentralize, Dismantle

The endgame isn’t just survival. It’s liberation. We don’t just want to dodge Palantir's eye — we want to tear down the structures that make companies like it possible. That means pushing for legislation that bans predictive policing and dragnet surveillance. That means exposing the contracts, disrupting the supply chain of tyranny, and dismantling the data infrastructure that enables digital fascism.

6. Learn Digital Self-Defense

N1ghtw1re teaches this. Learn how to set up offline mesh networks. Carry a Tails OS USB. Keep a burner device. Learn threat modeling. Be unpredictable. Be untraceable. Be ungovernable.

Remember: Palantir doesn’t need a name to target you. Just data points. Kill the data, and you become a ghost.