The software giant Palantir has bagged a $30 million contract from the federal government to help the Trump administration track illegal aliens.
According to documents reviewed by Business Insider, the company will be responsible for developing new software tools that will help track visa overstays and monitor self-deportations.
The system, known as the Immigration Lifecycle Operating System (or ImmigrationOS) is designed to help ICE more efficiently identify, track, and remove immigrants in line with its enforcement priorities.
The goal, according to the contract, is to reduce the “time and resource expenditure” involved in apprehending targeted individuals.
Palantir was founded by former Trump donor Peter Thiel, who along with Elon Musk is considered the most powerful conservative in Silicon Valley. He currently serves as the organization’s chairman,
Palantir is equipping ICE with AI systems that fuse federal datasets to identify, track, and prioritize deportation targets in real time.
ICE awarded Palantir a $29.8 million contract to upgrade its Immigration Lifecycle Operating System, streamlining enforcement from… pic.twitter.com/BjtlxueFjN
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Alongside violent criminals and affiliates of known transnational criminal organizations, the contract specifically mentions visa overstays as a key focus.
Visa overstays typically involve individuals who enter the U.S. legally but remain past the expiration of their visas, which is usually a civil violation, not a criminal offense.
The software will give ICE agents near real-time updates on people who leave the country on their own and will integrate with existing systems to track immigration cases from start to finish.
ICE said the contract is an expansion of an existing deal and builds on work Palantir has done for the agency for over a decade.
The company was first hired by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2014 to develop ICE’s case management system and later secured a Biden-era contract in 2022 for system support and maintenance.
According to the documents, Palantir’s software pulls data from multiple government sources and helps DHS agents keep detailed records on immigration violators.
It also supports data sharing with Customs and Border Protection, including information related to lookouts and seizures.
The latest contract says the upgrade is necessary to implement President Trump’s policy of ending illegal immigration and carrying out mass deportations.
“Palantir has developed deep institutional knowledge of ICE operations over more than a decade of support,” ICE stated.
“Their systems have been tailored to meet strict DHS security and privacy standards.”
The software is expected to be completed by September this year.
