ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data

Privacy, Power, and “Nothing to Hide”

• Many argue this case is the archetype of why privacy matters: once detailed data exist and are centralized, any future regime or rogue insider can weaponize them, regardless of the original purpose.
• The “nothing to hide” stance is challenged with examples: abusive ex-partners in law enforcement, stalkers, political enemies, and shifting definitions of what is “illegal” (religion, sexuality, speech, social media posts).
• Others counter that the core problem is not data collection but the breakdown of rule of law and due process; in a corrupt system, even banning data collection doesn’t save you.

Scale, Dehumanization, and Historical Echoes

• Commenters see Palantir-style tools as “Lavender v2”: their main function isn’t accuracy but dehumanization—turning people into targets and lists.
• Historical parallels are repeatedly raised: Nazi use of registries, Japanese-American internment using census data, Belarus persecuting ham radio operators, and the risk that once-neutral datasets become “turnkey tyranny.”
• Some say legality is a poor safeguard: laws can be reinterpreted, changed, or simply ignored by a determined executive.

Medicaid Data, Immigrants, and Families

• There’s debate over how directly Medicaid ties to “illegal” immigrants:
  • Federal rules mostly restrict undocumented people, but states can cover some non‑citizens or fund emergency care; citizen children with undocumented parents are a major vector.
  • That makes Medicaid records (addresses, households, diagnoses, prior addresses, ethnicity) a powerful way to locate mixed‑status families.
• Several describe real-world cases of parents of autistic or chronically ill kids on Medicaid being picked up by ICE, seeing this as morally grotesque exploitation of health data.

Authoritarian Drift and Political Uses

• Many see ICE’s use of Palantir, face recognition, ALPRs and cross-agency data as part of a broader project: a surveillance-based apparatus to intimidate protesters, legal observers, and political opponents.
• Recent shootings of US citizens by ICE/CBP, resistance to body cameras, and efforts to obtain voter rolls are cited as evidence that this is not “just about immigration.”
• A minority emphasize that immigration laws “must be enforced” and that deportation itself isn’t inherently evil; critics respond that current practices are indiscriminate, error-prone, and used as a tool of repression.

Tech Industry, Responsibility, and HN Meta

• Strong condemnation of Palantir and similar firms: employees are called collaborators; some wish for internal sabotage or mass resignations but note most staff either believe they’re “doing good” or are just in it for the money.
• Others argue this is precisely why technologists must engage with politics: tools they build are now central to policing, borders, and elections.
• Frustration surfaces over HN flagging and “no politics” norms, which some see as willful avoidance while a surveillance state is being built with mainstream tech.