Thirty-four members Congress is demanding that the Departments of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement provide detailed information on how tools developed by Palantir and “a number of surveillance companies” are fueling Trump’s ongoing attacks on immigration, according to a letter shared exclusively with WIRED.
On Thursday, lawmakers sent a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Secretary Todd Lyons. It raised significant concerns about how DHS uses software developed by Palantir, as well as facial recognition from Clearview AI, social media surveillance tools from PenLink, cell tower simulators from L3Harris and cell phone surveillance technology from Paragon Solutions.
Lawmakers claimed the toolkit could be used to “compile, aggregate and analyze large amounts of data and personal information” and questioned “what safeguards exist, if any, to prevent the misuse and collection of sensitive personal data.”
“These tools contribute to a mass surveillance ecosystem that appears to operate in conjunction with Palantir-developed platforms and ultimately support DHS law enforcement activities, some of which target U.S. citizens,” the letter says. It demands answers from ICE and DHS no later than April 24.
The letter raised several specific questions about Palantir, including which “government and/or commercial data sets and information, if any,” are integrated with systems developed by the company. They also asked about an application developed by Palantir called “ELITE,” which stands for “Enhanced Leads Identification and Targeting for Enforcement.” Lawmakers asked for a “comprehensive report” on the tool, including information about its development, purpose, the specific categories it applies to data, and the current number of DHS officials authorized to utilize it.
Modern York Democrat Dan Goldman, the lead author of the letter, tells WIRED that he believes the second Trump administration has “weaponized” Palantir’s technology to support its “inhumane mass deportation program” as well as “surveillance of American citizens.”
“The use of these tools raises serious civil liberties and privacy concerns, yet DHS and ICE have so far refused to provide transparency about how they use these tools and what information they collect about American citizens,” Goldman says.
The letter focusing on Palantir highlights that the Trump administration’s growing reliance on the company’s technology is becoming increasingly politically divisive. Palantir is a key contractor for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, both of which are part of the Department of Homeland Security. WIRED has previously reported that ICE currently uses several tools developed by Palantir. In addition to ELITE, Palantir has built “an essential tool for managing law enforcement cases”, as well as the Immigration Lifecycle operating system (ImmigrationOS), which immigration agents use to select deportation cases and track who has been deported.
Palantir’s revenue from government contracts has grown steadily since the company was founded in 2004, and has continued to grow under Democratic and Republican administrations. But since the beginning of Trump’s second term, the business has exploded. In fiscal year 2025, the company earned a record amount of approximately $1 billion in payments and obligations to government agencies, almost twice as much as he earned the year before.
In their letter, lawmakers also requested information on any “legal authorities” and internal policies used by DHS to determine how data it collects and aggregates is used or how long it is retained.
Lawmakers also asked whether DHS and ICE “collect or retain” personal information about U.S. citizens, quoting cases where US citizens encountered ICE and Border Patrol agents who then used facial recognition to learn the citizens’ identities. Lawmakers also asked whether DHS “collected, stored, or otherwise processed information about individuals peacefully observing, documenting, or protesting immigration enforcement operations” and asked for detailed information on any facial recognition tools used in immigration enforcement.
Democratic Rep. John Garamendi, who signed the letter, tells WIRED that it is “the responsibility of Congress” to rigorously police any potentially illegal surveillance of Americans. “As an out-of-control ICE terrorizes local communities and attacks American citizens, it is becoming increasingly clear that this new, disturbing reality requires action,” Garamendi says.