The city’s own police department has spent millions on the tech firm’s software
New York City comptroller Mark Levine (D.) is pressing Palantir to commission an independent “human rights risk assessment” of the data analytics firm’s work with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, accusing it of putting shareholder value at risk.
“The apparent divergence between Palantir’s human rights commitments and the troubling public reports of ICE activities underscores the need for effective oversight,” Levine wrote in a Wednesday letter to the tech company’s board. “Palantir’s association with DHS and [Enforcement and Removal Operations] presents material legal, reputational, and human capital risks.”
Conducting a human rights risk assessment, Levine wrote, “will allow the board to demonstrate to shareholders that it is exercising independent oversight of the legal, reputational, civil-rights, and human-rights risks associated with the Company’s involvement in federal law enforcement activities.” He noted that New York City’s public pension funds, which he oversees, are “substantial long-term beneficial shareholders of Palantir.”
Levine’s demand highlights the escalating methods Democrats are using to target ICE’s operations and carries with it the assumption that a blue-state bureaucrat has a better sense for delivering shareholder value than the company’s executives and board members. Democratic leaders on Wednesday issued a number of demands that would handcuff agents, such as forcing them to unmask, limiting where they can operate, and placing higher demands on the warrants needed to arrest aliens.
Levine, however, ignored the fact that New York City has a history of paying Palantir for its technology. Between 2011 and 2016, the city awarded Palantir 14 contracts amounting to just over $5 million, official records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show. About half of that was used to provide the New York Police Department with licenses for Gotham, a Palantir platform that integrates and analyzes data collected by police, such as arrest records, license plate readers, and parking tickets, to support criminal investigations.
In January, New York State comptroller Tom DiNapoli similarly pressed Palantir to justify its contracts with ICE and disclose more information about its political spending. A spokesman said DiNapoli “categorically condemns ICE’s ongoing terror campaign against immigration communities.”
Palantir’s relationships with DHS, ICE, and Homeland Security Investigations, meanwhile, stretch back more than a decade. The company has provided investigative case management and data analysis software that supports investigations into human trafficking, drug smuggling, and transnational criminal organizations for roughly 14 years.
Between 2014 and 2019, ICE paid Palantir an estimated $51.8 million to run Gotham. And last year, ICE awarded Palantir with a nearly $30 million contract extension to develop its “Immigration Lifecycle Operating System,” which helps the agency prioritize the removal of violent criminals and track whether aliens are voluntarily leaving the United States.
The New York City Comptroller’s Office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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