ICE Emails Discuss Using Palantir-Supported Tool to Investigate Voter Fraud
Leaked documents reveal that ICE is utilizing a Palantir-supported tool called ELITE to investigate potential voter fraud. The agency is coordinating with its Innovation Lab to integrate voter roll data into enforcement systems.
Why it matters
The use of advanced data analytics by immigration enforcement for domestic election-related investigations raises concerns regarding civil liberties and the scope of federal agency authority.
The revelation is found in a tranche of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and published this week by Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy group. As well as revealing that DHS officials have investigated over 150 nonprofit groups in search of evidence they’re helping noncitizens register to vote, the documents show how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now central to federal voter fraud investigations.
More specifically, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)—one of ICE’s two major components—is spearheading the effort to uncover voter fraud, with its Innovation Lab (known internally as iLab) developing tools for agents.
ICE, it seems, wants to build “a system that is going to get good at determining how to find people to investigate and potentially bring action against,” Chinmayi Sharma, an associate professor at Fordham Law School who has closely tracked the ELITE tool, tells WIRED.
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