Latest news with #ImmigrationOS
The Journal
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Journal
US using AI surveillance tools to target migrants and pro-Palestine protesters, says Amnesty
US AUTHORITIES ARE using AI-powered surveillance tools to target non-US citizens who support Palestine and to aid with its migrant crackdown, according to Amnesty International. Amnesty International has reviewed documentation which shows that AI tools Babel X and Palantir's Immigration OS have automated capabilities that enable constant mass monitoring and surveillance, often for the purpose of targeting non-US citizens. The human rights organisation added that its research shows how these tools are being used by the US government to track migrants and that the tools also 'carry a high risk of being used as part of the 'Catch and Revoke' initiative'. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched the AI-powered 'Catch and Revoke' to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups. The AI-driven 'Catch and Revoke' initiative combines social media monitoring, visa status tracking, and automated threat assessments of foreign individuals on visas, including international students. However, critics warn that Pro-Palestinian sentiments have often been conflated with antisemitism or pro-terrorism, leaving people vulnerable to being caught in an AI-enabled social media net. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International, said the 'coercive 'Catch and Revoke' initiative risks supercharging arbitrary and unlawful visa revocations, detentions, deportations and violations of a slew of human rights'. She also said it is 'deeply concerning that the US government is deploying invasive AI-powered technologies within a context of a mass deportation agenda and crackdown on pro-Palestine expression'. Babel X Babel X is provided by Babel Street, which has partnered with 84% of US national security agencies. Babel X can gather sweeping amounts of data from a single identifier, such as a person's name, email, or phone number. Amnesty said that information gathered by Babel X can be used by US authorities to make a decision about revoking an individual's visa. However, it warns that 'probabilistic technologies used to draw inferences about individuals' intent have massive margins for error, can often be discriminatory and biased, and could lead to falsely framing pro-Palestine content as antisemitic'. Advertisement Amnesty said that Babel X has been 'tasked specifically with monitoring refugees and asylum seekers' and warns that it 'risks rendering individuals suspicious by default, and subjecting them to the risk of visa revocation, detention and deportation'. Immigration OS by Palantir In April 2025, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to track 'self-deportations' and identify priority deportation cases, particularly visa overstays. The Immigration OS system serves as an upgrade to a previous Palantir system which had been used by ICE since 2014. Amnesty claimed that the Immigration OS 'automates an already deeply flawed and unaccountable process that has a history of disregarding due process and human rights' . During the first Trump administration, in 2020, Amnesty International wrote to Palantir about its human rights due diligence processes. In response, Palantir said it 'shares your organization's concern with the potential serious human rights violations against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at the US–Mexico border'. 'Due diligence' In July, Amnesty contacted Palantir Technologies and Babel Street for comment. Babel Street did not respond, but Palantir Technologies said its product was not used to power the 'Catch and Revoke' effort. However, Palantir said its Immigration OS 'does include work that directly serves' ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations. Amnesty said the 'Trump administration's public intention to engage in mass deportations' meant the companies 'could have reasonably foreseen the risk of harm being seen across the country and reconsidered entering into these contracts'. 'Had Palantir and Babel Street adequately carried out human rights due diligence, these companies could and should have similarly declined to engage in these mass deportation efforts,' said Guevara-Rosas. She called on Palantir and Babel Street to 'conduct and publish the full findings of human rights due diligence processes' . 'Unless Palantir and Babel Street can demonstrate they can use their leverage as suppliers to improve the serious human rights consequences borne by the policies of their clients,' said Guevara-Rosas, 'these companies should immediately cease their work with the US administration related to immigration enforcement.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Rights group says US uses AI to target pro-Palestinian protesters
SAN FRANCISCO: Amnesty International on Wednesday accused US authorities of using artificial intelligence tools from Palantir and Babel Street to monitor immigrants and target non-citizens at demonstrations supporting Palestinians. A review of documents, including Department of Homeland Security public records, showed that software provided by the AI firms enables mass surveillance and assessment of people, often to target those not from the United States, according to Amnesty International. "The US government is deploying invasive AI-powered technologies within a context of a mass deportation agenda and crackdown on pro-Palestine expression, leading to a host of human rights violations," said Erika Guevara-Rosas of the rights group. "This has led to a pattern of unlawful detentions and mass deportations, creating a climate of fear and exacerbating the 'chilling effect' for migrant communities and for international students across schools and campuses." Amnesty research determined the United States is using the AI tools to track migrants, refugees and asylum seekers as part of a "Catch and Revoke" initiative. The State Department initiative involves social media monitoring, visa status tracking, and automated threat assessments of visa holders such as foreign students, according to Amnesty. "Systems like Babel X and Immigration OS (from Palantir) play a key role in the US administration's ability to carry out its repressive tactics," said Guevara-Rosas. "Unless Palantir and Babel Street can demonstrate they can use their leverage as suppliers to improve the serious human rights consequences borne by the policies of their clients, these companies should immediately cease their work with the US administration related to immigration enforcement." Use of the AI surveillance tools risks fuelling US President Donald Trump's capacity to "deport marginalised people on a whim," Amnesty argued. Since being sworn in for a second term in January, Trump has targeted top US universities over claims they are politically biased towards "woke" politics and has charged – without evidence – that they have engaged in antisemitic policies. The administration has characterised widespread campus protests and sit-ins in the United States calling for an end to Israel's war in Gaza as being "antisemitic," and moved to expel foreign students and professors who took part in them.
NDTV
7 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
US Officials Using AI To Target Pro-Palestinian Protestors: Rights Group
Amnesty International on Wednesday accused US authorities of using artificial intelligence tools from Palantir and Babel Street to monitor immigrants and target non-citizens at demonstrations supporting Palestinians. A review of documents, including Department of Homeland Security public records, showed that software provided by the AI firms enables mass surveillance and assessment of people, often to target those not from the United States, according to Amnesty International. "The US government is deploying invasive AI-powered technologies within a context of a mass deportation agenda and crackdown on pro-Palestine expression, leading to a host of human rights violations," said Erika Guevara-Rosas of the rights group. "This has led to a pattern of unlawful detentions and mass deportations, creating a climate of fear and exacerbating the 'chilling effect' for migrant communities and for international students across schools and campuses." Amnesty research determined the United States is using the AI tools to track migrants, refugees and asylum seekers as part of a "Catch and Revoke" initiative. The State Department initiative involves social media monitoring, visa status tracking, and automated threat assessments of visa holders such as foreign students, according to Amnesty. "Systems like Babel X and Immigration OS (from Palantir) play a key role in the US administration's ability to carry out its repressive tactics," said Guevara-Rosas. "Unless Palantir and Babel Street can demonstrate they can use their leverage as suppliers to improve the serious human rights consequences borne by the policies of their clients, these companies should immediately cease their work with the US administration related to immigration enforcement." Use of the AI surveillance tools risks fueling US President Donald Trump's capacity to "deport marginalized people on a whim," Amnesty argued. Since being sworn in for a second term in January, Trump has targeted top US universities over claims they are politically biased towards "woke" politics and has charged -- without evidence -- that they have engaged in antisemitic policies. The administration has characterized widespread campus protests and sit-ins in the United States calling for an end to Israel's war in Gaza as being "antisemitic," and moved to expel foreign students and professors who took part in them. Trump has made the question of student protest, particularly by foreign scholars, a flashpoint political issue.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's tax bill funds $6bn expansion of US-Mexico border surveillance, report finds
Donald Trump's sweeping tax bill will finance a vast expansion of surveillance along the US-Mexico border, according to a new report. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) will give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – where US immigration agencies are housed – an unprecedented injection of $165bn in additional funding over the next four years. It's welcome news for the surveillance and defense tech industries that have been racing to cash in on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Signed into law on the Fourth of July, the OBBA earmarks more than $6bn of that spending for border technology, including surveillance, according to a new report by the immigration legal defense organization Just Futures Law. Among those standing to benefit are private prison corporations the GEO Group and Core Civic as well as surveillance firms such as Palantir and Anduril. US immigration agencies are seeking more funding for biometric data collection, license plate readers and phone hacking, the Just Futures Law report indicates. Related:Trump officials create searchable national citizenship database 'The spending is not about safety, it's about growing Trump's power through an agency like DHS,' said Laura Rivera, author of the report and senior staff attorney at Just Futures Law. 'I'm questioning why policing at the border should require this level of spending when the Trump administration is saying border crossing is at an all-time low.' Though many of these firms have already seen an increased investment from the federal government and the expansion of existing contracts since the start of the second Trump term, some executives have been banking on the additional funding swelling the budgets of immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). During a recent earnings call, for instance, executives at the Geo Group, which operates detention centers and sells surveillance products, repeatedly assured investors that they expected to see more 'momentum' for their businesses in the second half of the year once the Ice budget was finalized. Here's what the agencies are asking for, what the OBBA is giving them and who stands to profit the most: The biggest name among the firms that will see a windfall from the big funding boost to the DHS is Palantir. The data management company was previously awarded $30m in a new contract to build a platform called ImmigrationOS that makes deportations more efficient. As part of the contract, Palantir is reportedly enabling the government to bring together sensitive data on all Americans from the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the DHS. It's an unprecedented centralization of personal information by the federal government that civil liberties experts argue is a violation of privacy. The OBBA has allocated $673m to be spent on biometric systems – which collect and identify people based on physical attributes like their face or fingerprints – for ports of entry and exit. In April, for instance, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) put out a request for bids from firms that would help the agency perform real-time facial recognition on people inside vehicles crossing the borders. CBP previously signed a $16m contract with data broker LexisNexis for various services, including facial recognition. Since the start of 2024, CBP has awarded the little-known facial recognition firm Sentrillion nine contracts totaling $36.7m. According to its website, the company enables CBP officers to use 'voice and facial recognition from audio and video surveillance systems, as well as biometric fingerprint readers, to verify the identity of citizens'. CBP also has contracts with Clearview AI, which has been deployed at the US-Canada border, according to the Just Futures Law report. The DHS is also planning to ramp up its use of surveillance towers along the border. Supplied by firms like Peter Thiel-backed Anduril and the Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems, these automated surveillance structures are used to record and track who is crossing the border. CBP has asked for $140m for the upcoming fiscal year to construct more than 200 new towers along the border. The agency expects to have more than 900 towers up by September 2026, according to the report. Ice is looking to ramp up its social media surveillance capabilities with OBBA funding. In a request for information published in June, the agency sought an analytics firm to scour various sources of data including social media, geolocation and license plate reader information, financial information, international travel and crime data. The intention would be for the firm to analyze all of that information together to attempt to predict 'potentially criminal and fraudulent behavior before crime and fraud can materialize', according to the proposal. It's unclear how much funding is set aside for Ice's specific program, but the DHS has already implemented expanded screening procedures for visa applicants, including requiring their social media accounts be set to public. CBP has awarded a $1.2m contract for software developed by a company called Fivecast Onyx to scrape and analyze open source data, including social media.
Fast Company
26-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Stephen Miller has a hefty financial stake in a key ICE contractor
Stephen Miller, the hard-line Trump adviser who helped craft some of the administration's most aggressive immigration enforcement policies, is apparently profiting from the tools that make them possible, a new report finds. According to financial disclosures cited in a new report by the Project on Government Oversight, Miller is one of a dozen current White House staffers invested in Palantir, the data analytics firm whose contracts with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have made it the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year. His stake—valued between $100,001 and $250,000—is the largest among staffers. Ethics experts say the investment raises serious concerns, given Palantir's deepening relationship with DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), agencies central to policies Miller continues to influence. 'If he hasn't stepped over the line, he's just on the verge of it,' Virginia Canter, counsel for ethics and anticorruption at Democracy Defenders Fund, told the Project on Government Oversight as part of its report. 'I just don't think anybody would be comfortable with him keeping this stock.' An anonymous White House official tells Fast Company that Miller in fact owns a number of stocks that surpass the legal threshold that could constitute a conflict of interest, but he has maintained to the White House ethics office that he has, and will continue to, recuse himself from official matters that could affect those stocks. In a statement to Fast Company, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration is committed to transparency around such disclosures, insisting, 'President Trump, Vice President Vance, and senior White House staff have completed required ethics briefings and financial reporting obligations.' (Palantir did not respond to Fast Company 's request for comment on the ethical implications of Miller's investment.) Palantir's ties to DHS and ICE date back to the early 2010s. The company supplies software that helps organize criminal investigations and track the movements of immigrants. During Trump's second term, those ties have only strengthened. Palantir has become a 'more mature partner to ICE,' according to internal company communications obtained by 404 Media. In January, the company secured a $30 million contract to build ImmigrationOS, a system that monitors immigration cases 'from identification to removal' and provides 'near real-time visibility' into self-deportation, government records show. That visibility fits neatly into the broader crackdown on immigration now underway, a campaign in which Miller plays a central role. Last month, he joined Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in setting an aggressive new enforcement benchmark: 3,000 immigration arrests per day. That's triple the daily average from the start of Trump's second term, according to Axios. As of Monday, ICE was detaining 59,000 immigrants—more than 140% of the agency's official detention capacity of 41,500 beds, CBS News reports. Given Miller's direct involvement in shaping enforcement policy—and Palantir's growing role in executing it—it's not surprising that his financial interest in the company is setting off alarms among government ethics experts. Miller could easily cross an ethical line in his work, for example, if he were 'in a meeting involving DHS officials talking about whether the data analytics capability of DHS needs to be improved or changed in some way, knowing full well that Palantir would be the beneficiary,' Don Fox, former general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, told the Project on Government Oversight.
