The Department of Homeland Security has awarded Palantir Technologies a $30 million no-bid contract to build a new deportation-focused database system for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deepening the company's long-standing role in U.S. immigration enforcement. The contract, issued in April and slated for delivery by September 25, will support the development of the Immigration Lifecycle Operating System-referred to internally as "ImmigrationOS."
Designed to integrate real-time data from multiple federal agencies and private sources, the system will allow ICE agents to monitor visa overstays, self-deportations, and alleged members of transnational criminal groups including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. According to federal procurement records, the tool will give ICE "near real-time visibility" into individuals' locations, movements, and activities.
"Palantir has deep institutional knowledge of ICE operations," the agency stated in its justification for bypassing the standard bidding process. The agency said delays in development would "undercut enforcement mandates outlined in Trump's executive orders."
The software will consolidate information from disparate databases and existing enforcement tools into one interface, enhancing ICE's ability to identify targets and manage removal operations. The platform is expected to track not only undocumented individuals but also those who voluntarily exit the country, in order to prioritize remaining enforcement actions.
The establishment of ImmigrationOS reflects an "urgent and compelling" need, the ICE contract document states. The agency characterized transnational criminal groups as posing "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."
Palantir, founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, already holds contracts with ICE valued at over $88 million for investigative platforms. Several senior officials in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a technology reform initiative under President Trump led by Elon Musk deputies, previously worked at Palantir.
The expansion has sparked backlash from civil liberties organizations and human rights advocates. Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights said Palantir was "complicit in those human rights and constitutional violations" through its support of Trump's deportation initiatives.
Critics warn the system's capabilities go far beyond immigration. Cooper Quintin, senior technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, "What they have built is a really, really capable engine for analyzing big data, linking it together and picking out parts of it."
He cautioned that ImmigrationOS could be used to target political opponents. "Even if you think you're safe for now, you might not be safe for long."
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, wrote on X, "If you're a first-rate programmer, there are a huge number of other places you can go work rather than at the company building the infrastructure of the police state."
The announcement comes days after ICE conducted mass arrests in Colorado Springs, where over 100 people-including active-duty military members-were detained. The agency also confirmed at least 11 deportations from its Aurora detention facility last week.
