How Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google Power Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

A WIRED analysis has revealed that ICE and CBP have collectively spent at least $515 million on products from major tech companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Palantir since 2023, as the federal immigration crackdown has expanded across the United States, relying heavily on infrastructure provided by these technology firms. The examination of federal contracting data and public documents shows that Palantir has received approximately $121.9 million from ICE since 2023, while Microsoft has secured at least $94 million from ICE and $81 million from CBP. Amazon has obtained at least $51 million from ICE and $158 million from CBP, with Google receiving at least $921,000 from ICE and $7 million from CBP. These figures represent minimum estimates, as they exclude payments that don't directly mention these companies in publicly available documents. Palantir has played a particularly significant role in developing data analysis tools that bring together information from various federal databases. The company created ICE's Investigative Case Management system in 2014, which serves as the agency's core law enforcement case management tool. More recently, ICE paid Palantir $30 million to build the Immigration Lifecycle Operating System (ImmigrationOS) to help identify deportation targets, which shares core infrastructure with the new ELITE app that creates on-the-spot dossiers about possible deportation targets, including AI-generated "confidence scores" about residence addresses. Palantir has also developed tools to review and categorize incoming tips, including one launched in June 2025 that can translate non-English tips and produce brief summaries. Microsoft's Azure cloud storage and Microsoft 365 products power critical operations across ICE, including the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, while also supporting technical operations teams that use electronic surveillance technologies during high-risk criminal investigations. The extensive use of these technologies has raised significant ethical concerns. Jake Laperruque from the Center for Democracy and Technology's Security and Surveillance Project notes that while Palantir isn't directly harvesting people's data, it enables ICE to analyze information obtained from other sources, effectively supporting the agency's "collect it all" mentality. Jeramie Scott from the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Surveillance Oversight Program emphasizes that aggregating data collected for purposes other than immigration enforcement undermines trust in government. Following recent incidents involving federal immigration enforcement agents, some Palantir employees have questioned the ethics of selling to ICE, though CEO Alex Karp provided limited information about the company's relationship with the agency, requiring interested employees to sign NDAs for additional details.