While orchestrating the most aggressive immigration crackdown in recent U.S. history, Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser and former White House deputy chief of staff, was also profiting from it. All of it through a system he helped create. Federal financial disclosure forms show that Miller holds between $100,000 and $250,000 in shares of Palantir Technologies, a data analytics firm closely tied to billionaire investor Peter Thiel and one of ICE’s primary surveillance and data contractors.
Palantir is not just another tech company. It’s the digital command center of America’s immigration enforcement machine. For years, it has developed platforms that track, analyze and integrate data on undocumented immigrants. Under the Trump administration, its government contracts — and revenue — boomed. In 2014, it secured a $41 million deal to build the Investigative Case Management (ICM) system, a platform designed to merge data from federal, local, and even private sources to streamline arrests and removals.
Miller’s investment, formally registered under the name of one of his minor children, was first uncovered by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a nonpartisan watchdog group. The same probe identified similar holdings among at least eleven senior Trump administration officials, including then-Chief Information Officer Gregory Barbaccia. But Miller’s central role in shaping immigration policy puts his case in a league of its own.
Behind the dry architecture of national security, critics say, lies a deeply ideological project. According to former DHS official Miles Taylor, Miller once floated the idea of using armed drones to “blow up” migrant boats before they reached U.S. waters.
Meanwhile, Palantir has kept expanding its reach. In 2023, it landed a $30 million contract to develop ImmigrationOS, a platform aimed at giving ICE “near real-time visibility” on individuals going through voluntary departure processes. Internal documents obtained by Wired show the system is designed to facilitate arrests and deportations even when no crime has been committed.
As the algorithms become more refined, the consequences on the ground grow more severe. One woman, nine months pregnant, was arrested and later rushed to the hospital in severe pain. Another undocumented woman, five months pregnant, reportedly lost her child after pleading for medical care over several days without success. Complaints of U.S. citizens and legal residents mistakenly swept up in ICE raids are also increasing.
Sources inside ICE say Miller, impatient with what he viewed as sluggish deportation numbers, once berated field agents for failing to reach 3,000 arrests per day.
