Peter Thiel’s Shady Tech Company Keeps Cashing in on Trump’s Cruel Immigration Policies

Palantir has a deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for up to nearly $50 million over the next 3 years, according to a contract posted Monday. The software company co-founded by possible vampire and all around terrible person Peter Thiel helps government officials organize and access large swaths of personal information about, you know, everyone.

Since 2014, the Silicon Valley company has been running the Investigative Case Management System, which gives ICE access to a range of personal data such as family relationships, home and work addresses, biometric data such as tattoos, and phone records. The company is able to collect and sort through data from a variety of sources. Then, the information all gets used for things like arresting the families of migrant children.

In the new government contract, the numbers appear to be redacted, but they are visible when pasted into a word document.

“We condemn the renewal of the contract between Palantir and ICE,” said Mijente, an activist group organizing in Latinxs and Chicanxs communities. “The company has chosen to ignore every voice speaking out against this and pursue a contract worth tens of millions, tying it closer to the Trump administration’s record of abuse.”

Activists have put pressure on Palantir to break ties with ICE and stop facilitating the widespread abuse of people both documented and undocumented. People working at technology companies have also spoken out about their role in Trump’s violent anti-migrant politics. Because Amazon uses Palantir’s cloud services, workers at this Silicon Valley company, too, have demanded drastic change.