Stop Tech from facilitating abuses against migrants and asylum‐seekers
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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.