https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/report-ice-using-palantir-tool-feeds-medicaid-data Skip to main content * About + Contact + Press + People + Opportunities + EFF's 35th Anniversary * Issues + Free Speech + Privacy + Creativity and Innovation + Transparency + International + Security * Our Work + Deeplinks Blog + Press Releases + Events + Legal Cases + Whitepapers + Podcast + Annual Reports * Take Action + Action Center + Electronic Frontier Alliance + Volunteer * Tools + Privacy Badger + Surveillance Self-Defense + Certbot + Atlas of Surveillance + Cover Your Tracks + Street Level Surveillance + apkeep * Donate + Donate to EFF + Giving Societies + Shop + Sponsorships + Other Ways to Give + Membership FAQ * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give --------------------------------------------------------------------- Email updates on news, actions, and events in your area. Join EFF Lists * Copyright (CC BY) * Trademark * Privacy Policy * Thanks Electronic Frontier Foundation Donate Electronic Frontier Foundation * About + Contact + Press + People + Opportunities + EFF's 35th Anniversary * Issues + Free Speech + Privacy + Creativity and Innovation + Transparency + International + Security * Our Work + Deeplinks Blog + Press Releases + Events + Legal Cases + Whitepapers + Podcast + Annual Reports * Take Action + Action Center + Electronic Frontier Alliance + Volunteer * Tools + Privacy Badger + Surveillance Self-Defense + Certbot + Atlas of Surveillance + Cover Your Tracks + Street Level Surveillance + apkeep * Donate + Donate to EFF + Giving Societies + Shop + Sponsorships + Other Ways to Give + Membership FAQ * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data DEEPLINKS BLOG By Josh Richman January 15, 2026 A cityscape with surveillance Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data Share It Share on Mastodon Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link A cityscape with surveillance EFF last summer asked a federal judge to block the federal government from using Medicaid data to identify and deport immigrants. We also warned about the danger of the Trump administration consolidating all of the government's information into a single searchable, AI-driven interface with help from Palantir, a company that has a shaky-at-best record on privacy and human rights. Now we have the first evidence that our concerns have become reality. "Palantir is working on a tool for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a "confidence score" on the person's current address," 404 Media reports today. "ICE is using it to find locations where lots of people it might detain could be based." The tool - dubbed Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement (ELITE) - receives peoples' addresses from the Department of Health and Human Services (which includes Medicaid) and other sources, 404 Media reports based on court testimony in Oregon by law enforcement agents, among other sources. This revelation comes as ICE - which has gone on a surveillance technology shopping spree - floods Minneapolis with agents, violently running roughshod over the civil rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike; President Trump has threatened to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy military troops against protestors there. Other localities are preparing for the possibility of similar surges. Different government agencies necessarily collect information to provide essential services or collect taxes, but the danger comes when the government begins pooling that data and using it for reasons unrelated to the purpose it was collected. This kind of consolidation of government records provides enormous government power that can be abused. Different government agencies necessarily collect information to provide essential services or collect taxes, but the danger comes when the government begins pooling that data and using it for reasons unrelated to the purpose it was collected. As EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn wrote in a Mercury News op-ed last August, "While couched in the benign language of eliminating government 'data silos,' this plan runs roughshod over your privacy and security. It's a throwback to the rightly mocked 'Total Information Awareness' plans of the early 2000s that were, at least publicly, stopped after massive outcry from the public and from key members of Congress. It's time to cry out again." In addition to the amicus brief we co-authored challenging ICE's grab for Medicaid data, EFF has successfully sued over DOGE agents grabbing personal data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, filed an amicus brief in a suit challenging ICE's grab for taxpayer data, and sued the departments of State and Homeland Security to halt a mass surveillance program to monitor constitutionally protected speech by noncitizens lawfully present in the U.S. But litigation isn't enough. People need to keep raising concerns via public discourse and Congress should act immediately to put brakes on this runaway train that threatens to crush the privacy and security of each and every person in America. Related Issues Privacy Border Surveillance Technology Share It Share on Mastodon Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link Related Updates Bullhorn with "2025 Year in Review" coming out of it in bold letters Deeplinks Blog by Sarah Hamid | December 30, 2025 EFF's Investigations Expose Flock Safety's Surveillance Abuses: 2025 in Review Throughout 2025, EFF conducted groundbreaking investigations into Flock Safety's automated license plate reader (ALPR) network, revealing a system designed to enable mass surveillance and susceptible to grave abuses. Our research sparked state and federal investigations, drove landmark litigation, and exposed dangerous expansion into always-listening voice detection technology. We documented... 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