ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt “illegal immigrants”
www.bmj.com
US immigration agents are using an app developed by Palantir that draws on the health records of millions of Americans to find and detain people they deem illegal immigrants. The revelation comes as the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes under increased scrutiny after the shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37 year old intensive care nurse, by ICE agents in Minneapolis over the weekend. It has now emerged that data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is being fed—along with other commercial and public datasets—into an analytics app developed by Palantir, according to an investigation by news outlet 404 Media.1 Testimony from an ICE official and internal documents obtained by 404 show the app, Enhanced Leads Identification and Targeting for Enforcement (Elite), maps areas to help agents decide where to conduct detention raids. The tool was reportedly used in recent operations, including a raid in Oregon in October in which 30 people were arrested. According to the 404 investigation, Elite pulls names, addresses, and photos from health records. It reportedly works like Google Maps, showing ICE agents which areas have higher …
  • cmeu
    4·
    22 hours ago

    They will use whatever data they can. This is why things like flock, alpr systems, communications dragnets, etc are so scary We’re past the point of “I’ve nothing to hide” - of course you’re not a criminal, until someone else makes being you criminal… Privacy advocates have been screaming for decades - this current situation is the direct result of generalized apathy

  • LordCrom
    3·
    23 hours ago

    How did they get access to protected medical records at all…

    This is why I never let my doctor office take my picture for my medical records. They said I must wear a tinfoil hat… Nope, I have been alive a long time and have seen all this before.

  • pmtriste
    10·
    2 days ago

    No, they aren’t. They’re using it for targeting, but since they are targeting legal immigrants as much as undocumented ones, it isn’t reasonable to say this is for targeting “illegal immigrants”.