ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data • Hacker News Board

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#101

Post by PlanksVariable » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:48 PM UTC

sosomoxie wrote: post #27

billy99k wrote: post #23

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Yeah I'm against ICE and I don't want any immigrants deported.

Why? Deportation is a reasonable response when a person violates a country’s immigration laws. That is the standard around the world.

Alternatively, you have an essentially open border, which obviously can lead to unmanageable waves of immigration that strain a country’s housing, healthcare, schools, welfare, and other resources, among other effects.

Disruption to peoples’ lives happens when we have administrations who arbitrarily decide not to enforce the immigration law (e.g. the previous administration). It sends mixed signals to potential immigrants, and leads to the outcomes we have today when we decide to resume enforcing our laws.

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#102

Post by wahnfrieden » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:48 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #75

simonw wrote: post #2

Any time I see people say "I don't see why I should care about my privacy, I've got nothing to hide" I think about how badly things can go if the wrong people end up in positions of power. The classic example here is what happens when someone is being stalked by an abusive ex-partner who works in law enforcement and has access to those databases. This ICE stuff is that scaled up to a multi-billion dollar federal agen…

> how badly things can go if the wrong people end up in positions of power This is why there shouldn’t be any organization that has that much power. Full stop. What you described is the whole raison dêtre of Anarchism; irrespective of whether you think there’s an alternative or not* “No gods No Masters” isn’t just a slogan it’s a demand *my personal view is that there is no possible stable human organization https://…

Have you read Graeber & Wengrow?

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#103

Post by nathan_compton » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

direwolf20 wrote: post #63

ck_one wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the moment for Europe to show that you can do gov and business differently. If they get their s** together and actually present a viable alternative.

Europe can't do business differently. Or at least it doesn't seem to be able to. China can.

Last I checked millions of europeans are living in a functioning civilization. I've lived in Europe. It is ok.

Don't confuse "GDP not as big as ours" with "totally non-functional."

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#104

Post by tinyhouse » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

direwolf20 wrote: post #83

tinyhouse wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a horse in this race, but I do have a question. If you don't deport illegal immigrants, why not just open the border to everyone to come in? (let's ignore criminal records, etc for this exercise). What's the point of not letting people in but then if they manage to come in illegally, assume it's all good and they can stay?

That's the question, isn't it? Why not just do that? Who are you trying to keep out of the country, and for what end, and is that end best attained by removing people from the country who aren't the ones you are trying to keep out? For instance, if you believe the border should be strict to keep out serial killers, what does that have to do with removing Korean car factory workers who aren't serial killers?

Well, if a Korean car factory worker live and work illegally in the country, then it makes total sense to remove them, regardless if they are serial killers or not. A company shouldn't even hire anyone who is not eligible to work legally in the country. There are laws that need to be followed like everything else.

It sounds like you're saying that you want the country to have open borders so that everyone can come live and work here given they pass some basic checks (no criminal history for example). I am not saying that is wrong, but that's not how pretty much every country in the world operates.

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#105

Post by sambull » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

nxm wrote: post #18

wahnfrieden wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do explain

“If it was up to Stephen [Miller], there would only be 100 million people in this country, and they would all look like him.”

To accomplish things like that, a lot of us are going to be removed. I don't think these are jokes, it's a pattern of statements to condition and normalize. A thing he has done over and over.

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#106

Post by HumblyTossed » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:50 PM UTC

andy99 wrote: post #73

taurath wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It likely will. There’s major impact on literally everyone in tech, there’s huge data privacy concerns, and it has less coverage or discussion than a new version of jQuery. The US gov could fall but that would count as politics here so clearly irrelevant.

> less coverage or discussion than a new version of jQuery Pretty sure this is a feature not a bug. Most people aren’t here for political topics.

They should be aware of how tech is being used in political games though...

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#107

Post by mindslight » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

kakacik wrote: post #91

dashundchen wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ICE has been harassing and following legal observers to their houses. They've shot and executed at least two people who were exercising their legal right to record their activity. The FBI has been showing up at the door of some people who dare to organize protests against ICE. Stingrays have been deployed to protests, ICE is collecting photos of protestors for their database, and has been querying YCombinator funded…

When your whole system works by giving absolutely ridiculous amount of power to a single individual who has nobody above or at least on the side capable of interfering and changing things, this is what you eventually get. Crossing fingers and praying given person isn't a complete psycho or worse is not going to cut it forever, is it. Especially when >50% of population welcomes such person with open arms, knowing well…

I don't disagree with where you're coming from. But to be fair, our system did have separation of powers and rough legal accountability for most of the time it was accruing so much power. The fascists just managed to get enough of the Supreme Council on board to sweep these away under the guises of unitary executive theory and blanket immunity for their new president-king.

So from this perspective it's a matter of a corrupted interpreter, meaning merely adding more legal restrictions won't work. Rather final ultimate authority needs to be distributed amongst the states. The unrest in Minnesota would be solved in a week if the governor could simply use the National Guard to restore law and order without worrying that the out of control federal executive would just take control of them and then have even more foot soldiers to escalate the situation with.

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#108

Post by sheikhnbake » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

simonw wrote: post #2

Any time I see people say "I don't see why I should care about my privacy, I've got nothing to hide" I think about how badly things can go if the wrong people end up in positions of power. The classic example here is what happens when someone is being stalked by an abusive ex-partner who works in law enforcement and has access to those databases. This ICE stuff is that scaled up to a multi-billion dollar federal agen…

The true problem is that it happens no matter who is in charge. It's like that old phrase about weapons that are invented are going to be used at some point. The same thing has turned out to be true for intelligence tools. And the worst part is that the tools have become so capable, that malicious intent isn't even required anymore for privacy to be infringed.

Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#109

Post by gunsle » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

gritspants wrote: post #38

j16sdiz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. Is calvinistic predestination the majority view of republicans? I thought most of them are some form of (tv) evangelism, or secularism I am not American and genuinely curious on this.

I don't believe there is any sort of conservative intellectual movement at this point. The right believes they have captured certain institutions (law enforcement, military), in the same way they believe the left has captured others (education/universities, media), and will use them to wage war against whichever group the big finger pointing men in charge tell them to.

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Re: ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

#110

Post by SkyPuncher » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

simonw wrote: post #2

Any time I see people say "I don't see why I should care about my privacy, I've got nothing to hide" I think about how badly things can go if the wrong people end up in positions of power. The classic example here is what happens when someone is being stalked by an abusive ex-partner who works in law enforcement and has access to those databases. This ICE stuff is that scaled up to a multi-billion dollar federal agen…

For me, the angle is a bit different. I want privacy, but I also sense that the people who are really good at this (like Plantir) have so much proxy information available that individual steps to protect privacy are pretty much worthless.

To me, this is a problem that can only be solved at the government/regulatory level.