Stop Tech from facilitating abuses against migrants and asylum‐seekers

©Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

On September 30, the secretive software company Palantir Technologies went public on the New York Stock Exchange. This moment demands public scrutiny into how its technology impacts human rights, as the company becomes increasingly entrenched in U.S. government operations — including the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Act Now: Demand Palantir act to protect human rights, and take steps to ensure that its technology is not contributing to abuses against migrants and asylum‐seekers by the U.S. government.

In Failing to Do Right: The Urgent Need for Palantir to Respect Human Rights, Amnesty International exposed the high risk that Palantir is contributing to human rights violations. In particular, Palantir’s contracts to provide its Integrated Case Management System (ICM) and FALCON analytical platforms to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division risk contributing to human rights violations of asylum‐seekers and migrants who are separated from family members, subject to raids, detained, and face deportation.

The U.S. government must take responsibility for its role in creating and maintaining a harmful environment for the treatment of migrants and asylum‐seekers. However, Palantir also has its own responsibility to respect human rights.

Its technology enabled ICE to identify, share information on, investigate, and track migrants and asylum‐seekers to make arrests and workplace raids, leading to family separations, detentions, and deportations.

When Amnesty International requested evidence of its human rights due diligence to address these risks, Palantir failed to provide details. Instead, Palantir has sought to deflect and minimize its responsibility to protect human rights. Its failure to conduct due diligence means it’s failing to meet its responsibility to respect human rights.

We must demand accountability: Urge Palantir act to protect human rights.

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

CEO and President

Alex

Karp

Palantir Technologies

Dear Mr. Karp,

I urge you to prevent Palantir’s technology from being used to facilitate human rights violations. Palantir must immediately carry out human rights due diligence and take effective steps to ensure that its technology is not contributing to abuses against migrants and asylum-seekers by the U.S. government.

Palantir’s contracts to provide its Integrated Case Management System (ICM) and FALCON analytical platforms to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division risk contributing to human rights violations of asylum-seekers and migrants. While Palantir’s contracts are with ICE/HSI, its technology has facilitated civil immigration enforcement: ICM and FALCON enabled ICE to identify, share information on, investigate, and track migrants and asylum-seekers to effect arrests and workplace raids, leading to family separations, detentions, and deportations.

There is therefore a high risk that Palantir, through its contracts with ICE/HSI, is contributing to ICE’s violations of the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers. As transparency is a key component of due diligence and Palantir has not provided evidence it is conducting due diligence around this risk to these human rights, when requested by Amnesty International, it is failing to meet its responsibility to respect human rights.

I therefore call on Palantir to:

- immediately carry out necessary human rights due diligence and take effective steps to ensure that its technology is not contributing to abuses against migrants and asylum-seekers by the U.S. government
- publish details of the technology it has provided to ICE through its contracts, as part of this due diligence, and the human rights safeguards it has put in place

Until these measures have been put in place, Palantir must urgently consider suspending all activities to provide ICE with products and services that facilitate civil immigration enforcement operations.

I urge you to act on your own stated commitment not to align with governments abusing human rights, by preventing the use of Palantir’s technology to facilitate human rights violations here in the U.S. against migrants and asylum-seekers.

Sincerely,

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