DENVER ‒ Federal officials are constructing a comprehensive new database system known as "ImmigrationOS" to monitor and target millions of individuals residing unlawfully in the United States
A $30 million no-bid contract with GOP megadonor Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies will assist Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in creating a sophisticated system to prioritize individuals for deportation, including accused gang members and visa overstays. The contract with the Denver-based company involves introducing a prototype this fall.
Thiel, the founder and chairman of Palantir, has close ties to Vice President JD Vance and DOGE head Elon Musk, with whom he co-founded PayPal.
The ImmigrationOS project mirrors the Trump administration's approach to federal bureaucracy, as Musk's team seeks technology-driven solutions to streamline government operations. Palantir already operates the ICE system for Homeland Security investigations, and the new ImmigrationOS will consolidate data from various government and private databases.
ICE officials justified the no-bid contract with Palantir by citing the threats posed by transnational organizations engaging in violence and terrorism in the US and abroad. The system will also monitor individuals who choose to self-deport, aiding ICE in prioritizing enforcement actions against those who remain in the country.
Civil liberties groups express concerns about the risks associated with systems like ImmigrationOS, warning of potential misuse to target any American. The system's capabilities to gather and analyze vast amounts of data raise privacy and civil rights issues, according to experts.
Despite the controversy, the development of ImmigrationOS represents a significant advancement in ICE's enforcement capabilities, signaling a new era of technology-driven immigration tracking in the US.