How are ICE agents picking where to commit their next act of wanton violence? Well, Palantir has an app for that!
According to a user guide obtained by 404 Media, the app provides ICE agents with a digital map populated by potential deportation targets, each of which has their own detailed dossier, including information such as their name, date of birth, Alien Registration Number (a unique identifier assigned by the U.S. government), and a photograph of the target. The dossier also includes a “confidence score” out of 100 as to how certain the app is of the target’s address.
“Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement (ELITE) is a targeting tool designed to improve capabilities for identifying and prioritizing high-value targets through advanced analytics,” the user guide states.
The information comes from a number of sources, including the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and something called CLEAR, which could be an investigation software from Thomson Reuters, according to 404Media.
The app’s “Geospatial Lead Sourcing Tab” allows ICE agents to select targets based on a number of criteria, including “Bios & IDs,” “Criminality,” “Location,” and “Operations,” the user guide shows. Using the app, ICE agents can select individual targets or multiple targets at once by drawing a shape around a selected area. During a sworn deposition earlier this month about a “dragnet” raid in Woodburn, Oregon, an officer with ICE’s Fugitive Operations Unit said that agents used the app to find target-rich areas.
“You’re going to go to a more dense population rather than … like, if there’s one pin at a house and the likelihood of them actually living there is like 10 percent … you’re not going to go there,” said the agent, who was identified as “JB” in the court documents obtained by 404 Media.
While the user guide does not explicitly state what company created the app, the app’s full name appears in a $29.9 million supplemental agreement with Palantir that started in September and is planned to continue for at least a year, 404Media reported.
Outrageous, and unfortunately not surprising given who we’re dealing with here.
I have a question. When we talk about how big tech colludes with Trump, we naturally tend to focus on leadership. But someone is writing the code for all the surveillance tracking, and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone focus on the moral responsibilites that comes with being a developer.
I don’t mean naming and shaming, I mean instilling hope that they have power to make a difference.
The teacher’s protest in Norway during WW2 made Quisling say “you teachers have destroyed everything for me”.
i thought it is well known for a while palintir has been used by the US a long time, at least for the military, and IDF, plus its being used in ukraine too.