TL;DR: ICE agents use a Palantir app called ELITE to find deportation targets. It works like Google Maps, but populated with people instead of restaurants. Each person has a dossier with their photo, address, and a "confidence score" predicting whether they're actually there. Agents draw shapes on the map to select "target-rich areas" for raids. Data sources include Medicaid records, DMV files, utility bills, and court records. If you update your address for medical care, that feeds into your confidence score.
What Is ELITE?
According to a user guide obtained by 404 Media, ELITE stands for "Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement" [1].
The description from Palantir's own documentation: a "targeting tool designed to improve capabilities for identifying and prioritizing high-value targets through advanced analytics."
Translation: an app that helps ICE find people to arrest.
How It Works
An ICE officer with the Fugitive Operations Unit described it in a sworn deposition about a raid in Woodburn, Oregon [1]:
"It's kind of like Google Maps. You're going to go to a more dense population rather than, like, if there's one pin at a house and the likelihood of them actually living there is like 10 percent, you're not going to go there."
The app shows ICE agents a map populated with potential deportation targets. Each pin is a person. Each person has a dossier containing:
- Name and photograph
- Date of birth
- Alien Registration Number
- Known addresses
- A "confidence score" (0-100) for each address
Agents can select individual targets or draw a shape around an area to select everyone inside it. Then they go raid.
The Confidence Score
Each address gets a confidence score out of 100, predicting how likely the person actually lives there [1].
How does the score increase?
- A recent electric bill at that address
- A recent court date associated with the address
- Updated medical records with that address
- Updated address for social services
Read that last one again. If someone updates their address to receive medical care or social services, that address update feeds into their confidence score [2].
The system weaponizes people's attempts to access healthcare and government services. Get medical treatment? ICE knows where you live. Apply for benefits for your U.S. citizen child? ICE knows where you live.
Where the Data Comes From
ELITE pulls from a staggering range of sources [2][3]:
Government Databases
DMV records, court records, Social Security files, IRS tax data, passport records
Health & Human Services
Medicaid data, records on unaccompanied minors and their sponsors from HHS
Utility Records
Electric bills, water bills, and other utility account information
Commercial Data
License plate reader data, location data from data brokers
ICE had access to driver's license photos of 1 in 3 adults, could track drivers in cities home to 3 in 4 adults, and could locate 3 in 4 adults through utility records [3].
That was before the $29.9 million ELITE contract. The system has only grown.
The Medicaid Problem
The Electronic Frontier Foundation highlighted a critical concern: ELITE feeds on Medicaid data [2].
When someone updates their address to continue receiving medical care, they're updating their deportation file. The system creates an impossible choice:
- Skip medical care to avoid updating your address
- Update your address and increase your confidence score for ICE
For parents with U.S. citizen children who need healthcare, there is no safe option. The system punishes people for taking care of their families.
"Target-Rich Areas"
In the Woodburn, Oregon deposition, the ICE officer explained how agents use the map to find "target-rich areas": neighborhoods with many high-confidence targets clustered together [1].
This is how raids get planned. Not based on individual criminal investigations, but based on where the algorithm thinks the most targets live.
If you live in a neighborhood with many immigrants, you're more likely to see ICE. Not because of anything you did, but because the map shows your neighborhood as target-rich.
Even Palantir Employees Objected
In May 2025, 13 former Palantir employees signed a public letter condemning the ICE contracts [4]:
"Companies are placating Trump's administration, suppressing dissent, and aligning with his xenophobic, sexist, and oligarchic agenda. Big Tech, including Palantir, is increasingly complicit, normalizing authoritarianism under the guise of a 'revolution' led by oligarchs."
They weren't alone in their concerns. Civil liberties groups have warned that systems like ELITE could easily expand to target any American, not just immigrants [4].
The Money
ELITE is part of a $29.9 million contract that started in September 2025 and runs through at least 2026 [1].
This builds on the earlier ImmigrationOS contract worth $30 million, signed in July 2025 [4].
Palantir has made over $60 million from ICE in the past year alone. And that's just the documented contracts.
What You Can Do
Limit Data Exposure
Use P.O. boxes where possible. Consider which government services truly require your current address. Every update feeds the system.
Know What's Tracked
Utility records, DMV, court appearances: all feed into confidence scores. Make informed decisions about what data you share.
Support Data Minimization Laws
Advocate for laws limiting government data sharing between agencies. California's data broker regulations offer a model.
Document Raids
If you witness ICE activity, document it safely. Evidence of algorithm-driven enforcement patterns matters for legal challenges.
References
- 404 Media - 'ELITE': The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid (January 2026)
- Electronic Frontier Foundation - Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data (January 2026)
- American Immigration Council - ICE to Use ImmigrationOS by Palantir to Track Immigrants (2025)
- The New Republic - ICE Is Using a Terrifying Palantir App to Determine Where to Raid (January 2026)