{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "generatedAt": "2026-10-19T05:56:09.492Z",
  "findingType": "finding",
  "findingId": 4117,
  "contentHash": "c67eae7a1df451e9f61b09989ad9ccca54f0d8c22688b8e091bf1d1e409a8d49",
  "title": "Palantir ELITE Receives Medicaid Data on 80M Patients Under INA §287 Authority — Court Allowed Biographical Data, Blocked Sensitive Health Data",
  "summary": "Palantir's ELITE platform — formally \"Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement\" — is a $29.9 million contract under which Palantir receives Medicaid patient addresses from HHS/CMS, cross-references them with IRS records, immigration databases, and private data sources (including Thomson Reuters), and generates an interactive map showing potential \"deportation targets\" with confidence scores. ICE and CMS signed a data-sharing agreement covering personal data of approximately 80 million Medicaid patients. The legal authority HHS invokes is Section 287(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the agency interprets as requiring that \"any information in any records kept by any department or agency of the government as to the identity and location of aliens in the US shall be made available to immigration authorities.\" A January 2026 ruling by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria permitted DHS to receive \"basic biographical, location, and contact information\" from CMS but granted an injunction blocking sharing of \"more sensitive health data.\" The data sharing agreement and Palantir's role were disclosed only through litigation brought by 404 Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, not through standard administrative transparency. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has documented that Palantir's stated Human Rights Policy is inconsistent with its operational role in ICE enforcement.",
  "methodology": "This finding was identified through systematic investigation of 5 entities. Evidence was classified as \"critical\" severity based on source verification tier (investigative_journalism, litigation_record, government_document, financial_journalism, investigative_journalism). The finding was reviewed under editorial status \"published\".",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/report-ice-using-palantir-tool-feeds-medicaid-data",
      "label": "EFF: Report — ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/palantir-has-human-rights-policy-its-ice-work-tells-different-story",
      "label": "EFF: Palantir Has a Human Rights Policy. Its ICE Work Tells a Different Story",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/01/26/ice-allegedly-uses-palantir-tool-tracking-medicaid-data/",
      "label": "Fortune: ICE allegedly uses Palantir tool tracking Medicaid data to track arrest targets",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://byteiota.com/ice-medicaid-surveillance-via-palantir-elite-privacy-crisis/",
      "label": "byteiota: ICE Medicaid Surveillance via Palantir ELITE Privacy Crisis",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2026/02/is-ice-undermining-patient-privacy-by-using-medicaid-data/",
      "label": "Association of Health Care Journalists: Is ICE undermining patient privacy by using Medicaid data?",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://goblinhouse.net/entity/404-media",
      "label": "404 Media — entity dossier",
      "type": "primary"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://goblinhouse.net/entity/electronic-frontier-foundation",
      "label": "Electronic Frontier Foundation — entity dossier",
      "type": "primary"
    }
  ],
  "queries": [
    {
      "description": "Finding record lookup",
      "table": "findings",
      "parameters": {
        "id": 4117
      }
    },
    {
      "description": "Involved entity resolution",
      "table": "entities",
      "parameters": {
        "names": [
          "Palantir Technologies",
          "Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)",
          "Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services",
          "Department of Health and Human Services",
          "Department of Homeland Security"
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "dataSnapshot": {
    "id": 4117,
    "title": "Palantir ELITE Receives Medicaid Data on 80M Patients Under INA §287 Authority — Court Allowed Biographical Data, Blocked Sensitive Health Data",
    "findingType": "regulatory_capture",
    "description": "Palantir's ELITE platform — formally \"Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement\" — is a $29.9 million contract under which Palantir receives Medicaid patient addresses from HHS/CMS, cross-references them with IRS records, immigration databases, and private data sources (including Thomson Reuters), and generates an interactive map showing potential \"deportation targets\" with confidence scores. ICE and CMS signed a data-sharing agreement covering personal data of approximately 80 million Medicaid patients. The legal authority HHS invokes is Section 287(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the agency interprets as requiring that \"any information in any records kept by any department or agency of the government as to the identity and location of aliens in the US shall be made available to immigration authorities.\" A January 2026 ruling by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria permitted DHS to receive \"basic biographical, location, and contact information\" from CMS but granted an injunction blocking sharing of \"more sensitive health data.\" The data sharing agreement and Palantir's role were disclosed only through litigation brought by 404 Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, not through standard administrative transparency. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has documented that Palantir's stated Human Rights Policy is inconsistent with its operational role in ICE enforcement.",
    "severity": "critical",
    "evidenceSummary": "Contract value ($29.9M) and ELITE acronym: EFF report (January 15, 2026). 80M patient scope and CMS-ICE data sharing agreement: EFF, Fortune (January 26, 2026). INA §287(c) authority citation: HHS spokesperson quoted in multiple sources. Judge Chhabria ruling: court records, January 2026. 404 Media / Freedom of the Press Foundation litigation: documented. Palantir Human Rights Policy inconsistency: EFF (April 2026).",
    "publicInterest": "An executive branch interpretation of a 1952 immigration statute is being used to compel the country's Medicaid program — designed for medically vulnerable populations — to provide patient location data to immigration enforcement. The legal basis was not publicly disclosed; it required FOIA litigation to surface. A federal judge has limited but not blocked the practice. The chilling effect on healthcare access for documented and undocumented patients alike is foreseeable.",
    "sourceTypes": [
      "investigative_journalism",
      "litigation_record",
      "government_document",
      "financial_journalism",
      "investigative_journalism"
    ],
    "sourceUrls": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/report-ice-using-palantir-tool-feeds-medicaid-data",
        "label": "EFF: Report — ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/palantir-has-human-rights-policy-its-ice-work-tells-different-story",
        "label": "EFF: Palantir Has a Human Rights Policy. Its ICE Work Tells a Different Story"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/01/26/ice-allegedly-uses-palantir-tool-tracking-medicaid-data/",
        "label": "Fortune: ICE allegedly uses Palantir tool tracking Medicaid data to track arrest targets"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://byteiota.com/ice-medicaid-surveillance-via-palantir-elite-privacy-crisis/",
        "label": "byteiota: ICE Medicaid Surveillance via Palantir ELITE Privacy Crisis"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2026/02/is-ice-undermining-patient-privacy-by-using-medicaid-data/",
        "label": "Association of Health Care Journalists: Is ICE undermining patient privacy by using Medicaid data?"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://goblinhouse.net/entity/404-media",
        "label": "404 Media — entity dossier"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://goblinhouse.net/entity/electronic-frontier-foundation",
        "label": "Electronic Frontier Foundation — entity dossier"
      }
    ],
    "reviewStatus": "published",
    "goblin": {
      "name": "Scryxi",
      "slug": "scryxi"
    },
    "createdAt": null
  },
  "entities": [
    {
      "id": 17,
      "name": "Palantir Technologies",
      "slug": "palantir-technologies",
      "type": "company"
    }
  ],
  "verificationSteps": [
    "Retrieve finding #4117 from the findings table and confirm title, description, and severity match this bundle.",
    "Visit source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/report-ice-using-palantir-tool-feeds-medicaid-data — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/palantir-has-human-rights-policy-its-ice-work-tells-different-story — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://fortune.com/2026/01/26/ice-allegedly-uses-palantir-tool-tracking-medicaid-data/ — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://byteiota.com/ice-medicaid-surveillance-via-palantir-elite-privacy-crisis/ — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2026/02/is-ice-undermining-patient-privacy-by-using-medicaid-data/ — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://goblinhouse.net/entity/404-media — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Visit source: https://goblinhouse.net/entity/electronic-frontier-foundation — confirm the claim described in the evidence summary.",
    "Cross-reference involved entities (Palantir Technologies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security) in the entities table.",
    "Verify the SHA-256 content hash by re-generating the JSON bundle and hashing it."
  ]
}