Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti

After national agents changeable and killed Minneapolis caregiver Alex Pretti connected Saturday, Palantir workers pressed for answers from enactment connected the company’s enactment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—and galore questioned whether Palantir should beryllium progressive with the bureau astatine all. Leadership defended its enactment arsenic successful portion improving “ICE’s operational effectiveness.”

Internal Slack messages reviewed by WIRED uncover increasing vexation wrong Palantir implicit its narration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and successful particular, ICE’s enforcement and investigations teams. In response, Palantir’s privateness and civilian liberties squad published an update to the company’s interior wiki detailing its enactment connected national migration enforcement, arguing that the “technology is making a quality successful mitigating risks portion enabling targeted outcomes.”

In a Saturday thread connected Slack discussing Pretti’s killing, Palantir workers questioned some the morals and the concern logic of continuing the company’s enactment with ICE.

“Our engagement with crystal has been internally swept nether the rug nether Trump2 excessively much. We request an knowing of our engagement here,” 1 idiosyncratic wrote.

“Can Palantir enactment immoderate unit connected ICE astatine all?” wrote another. “I’ve work stories of folks rounded up who were seeking asylum with nary bid to permission the country, nary transgression record, and consistently cheque successful with authorities. Literally nary crushed to beryllium rounded up. Surely we aren’t helping bash that?”

The treatment was held successful a company-wide Slack transmission dedicated to wide satellite quality coverage. The messages viewed by WIRED received dozens of “+1” emoji responses from different workers seemingly backing requests for much accusation astir Palantir’s narration with ICE. Palantir did not respond to requests for remark from WIRED.

On Sunday, Courtney Bowman, Palantir’s planetary manager of privateness and civilian liberties engineering, responded to the avalanche of worker questions by linking retired to the company’s interior wiki describing its DHS and migration enforcement contracts. The post—last updated, astatine the clip WIRED reviewed it, connected January 24 by Akash Jain, whose LinkedIn lists him arsenic main exertion serviceman and president of Palantir USG, which works with US authorities agencies—says that successful April 2025, Palantir began a six-month aviator supporting ICE successful 3 large areas: “Enforcement Operations Prioritization and Targeting,” “Self-Deportation Tracking,” and “Immigration Lifecycle Operations focused connected logistics readying and execution.”

Those functions align with a $30 cardinal declaration ICE awarded Palantir successful April for a level called ImmigrationOS. According to contracting accusation provided by DHS astatine the time, the strategy would springiness ICE “near real-time visibility” into radical self-deporting and assistance the bureau place and prime who to deport. According to Palantir’s wiki, the aviator for these services was renewed successful September for an further six-month period, and the self-deportation tracking “is being folded into the enactment connected Enforcement Operations Prioritization and Targeting.”

Palantir has besides started a caller aviator with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to assistance officials “in identifying fraudulent payment submissions,” the wiki says. The Trump medication has utilized allegations of fraud to warrant accrued ICE beingness successful cities similar Minneapolis.

“There person been increasing, and progressively visible, tract operations focused connected interior migration enforcement that proceed to pull attraction to Palantir’s engagement with ICE,” the wiki says. “We judge that our enactment could person a existent and affirmative interaction connected ICE enforcement operations by providing officers and agents with the information to marque much precise, informed decisions. We are committed to giving our partners the champion bundle for the job, portion acknowledging the reputational hazard we look erstwhile supporting migration enforcement operations.”

The wiki acknowledges “increasing reporting astir U.S. Citizens being swept up successful enforcement enactment and held, arsenic good arsenic reports of radical profiling allegedly applied arsenic pretense for the detention of immoderate U.S. Citizens,” but argues that Palantir’s customers astatine ICE “remain committed to avoiding the unlawful/unnecessary targeting, apprehension, and detention of U.S. Citizens wherever and nevertheless possible.”