Live data from Hacker News

ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

bmj.com

261–270 of 281 posts

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then governments use this data, but can wash their hands of it saying "we didn't collect it"

The ironic thing is that palantir has been operationalizating data gathered by the NSA and reselling as "ai targeting" to another country's military. But yes usually the loophole goes the other way. Maybe what we're really seeing now though is the feedback loop, the information laundering industrial complex that is the surveillance economy.

Source? My understanding was that palantir didn't take ownership of data themselves but rather came in and set up a new system for the org to use.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#262
post #251

Amazing the hoops that people will jump through to not enact strong employer penalties.

You would think that if you genuinely wanted to curb illegal immigration, then this would be the way to do it. People come here for money. Take away the money and they will no longer come. Hell, you would probably have bipartisan support for nationwide crackdowns on employers who are employing anyone here illegally. They are undercutting American employees and dodging taxes. Who wouldn't be for that kind of law enfor…

Doing this would immediately cause construction to become costlier as well as serious inflation on some other things (food, hotels ...). Americans were already constantly crying about Biden inflation, they can't handle this.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#263
post #223
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU has mostly done a good job of reining in private data collection. But unfortunately even tech-savvy people often don't see the big picture and just complain about cookie banners and other instances of malicious compliance by the companies who now can't collect and sell your data without significant financial risk.

...plus Trump is now threatening the EU with tarrifs unless they water down their data protection rules.

These days having the American president threaten you with random tariffs is the clearest indicator you’re doing something right.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m against using health data to benefit ICE but what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. There needs to be a critical mass of data for it to be useful to Palantir. If they are passing Medicare and Medicaid data, does that mean that undocumented migrants are getting Medicare and Medicaid?

> If they are passing Medicare and Medicaid data It’s not. Palantir “receives peoples’ addresses from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)” [1]. That’s broader than Medicare or Medicaid. If you’re on a legal visa and have to get a prescription filled, I think you’ll wind up in those data. (Same if you are legally on Medicare with a spouse who overstayed their visa.) > does that mean that undocumented mig…

I think it's pretty clear they are using Medicare and Medicaid data. They both fall under the umbrella of HHS so it would technically be correct to say they got data from HHS, but it seems like it's specifically Medicare and Medicaid data.

“Several federal laws authorise the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to make certain information available to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),”

> > does that mean that undocumented migrants are getting Medicare and Medicaid? > Not necessarily.

Not necessarily, but probably. I was told explicitly that undocumented migrants weren't getting Medicare and Medicaid services, but at this point, I don't know who to believe.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#266
post #143

From the leftist-Communist rag (/s) Wall Street Journal : > It started out that way. At the beginning of 2025, 87% of ICE arrests were immigrants with either a prior conviction or a criminal charge pending, according to ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. Only 13% of those arrested at the beginning of 2025 didn’t have either a conviction or a pending charge. > But the criminal share of apprehensions ha…

I have read the Obama era numbers are inflated because they counted turn aways at the border. It’s also a little interesting that Obama was able to be against illegal immigration without a ton of pushback. Why was that?

> It’s also a little interesting that Obama was able to be against illegal immigration without a ton of pushback. Why was that?

Maybe because under Obama agents didn't go around smashing windows:

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/ice-detentio...

Note: the above person was an asylum seeker, so following the official process (AFAICT).

Or under Obama they didn't pull away people who were in line to take the Oath of Allegiance:

* https://people.com/immigrants-approved-for-citizenship-pulle...

Or take US citizens out of their homes, in their underwear, in the middle of winter:

* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-f...

Perhaps under Obama due process was followed, or not going after / grabbing people randomly based on the color of their skin:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavanaugh_stop

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#267
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://apnews.com/article/ice-arrests-warrants-minneapolis-...

I wasn’t clear. I’m referring to a news link indicating that judges have released folks due to valid arrest warrants but invalid means of arresting folks.

Isn't that moving the goalposts? The comment you were asking under specifically said these arrests were made without obtaining a warrant.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#268
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genocide starts with separating people into them and us, and this process starts with words.

> Genocide starts with separating people into them and us This is an unsubstantiated slippery slope. We can categorize people, even sort them by desirability for some purpose, without resorting to dehumanization much less genocide. (Citizenship and immigration necessitate an us-them delineation. So do team sports, families and like club memberships. Us and them are fine. Us versus them is dangerous.)

It's not enough by itself of course, but in the US it's very much a "us versus them" if you haven't noticed.

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#269
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitation or punishment.” Do we know what is happening to these people? What their conditions are? Why do we not hear from them afterwards?

We do hear from them. Why are you worrying that we don't(without evidence)?

The Trump Administration is Forcibly Disappearing Migrants

https://humanrightsfirst.org/the-trump-administration-is-for...

Re: ICE and Palantir: US agents using health data to hunt illegal immigrants

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but there was also clearly an inflection point just over 12 months ago, and another 8 years prior.

For me it was when Eric Holder, the Attorney General under President Obama, straight-up ignored a Congressional subpoena. Maybe the actual event happened earlier than that, but in that moment I marked "rule of law" as a dead letter.

2000 election decided by the Supreme Court here. Will never forget the phrase "hanging chads."
Post reply on HN