Pressure Systems edition
Palantir Contracts and Automated ICE Raids Rewrite Border Law
July 24, 2026
What this edition shows
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expanding its algorithmic dragnet through illegal Medicaid data sharing with Palantir and the use of fabricated AI-generated case law by federal prosecutors. Meanwhile, court rulings allowing warrantless phone searches and the proliferation of automated license plate readers compound a regime where administrative data collection merges directly with carceral power.
Reporting and analysis behind this edition 9 sources
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ICE Illegally Scooped Up Medicaid Data, Then Shared It With Palantir
The Trump administration’s continual trend towards maximum awfulness means that every report seems to be “I’ve got bad news and I’ve got worse news.” What was already bad has become even worse now that more of the administration’s actions have been exposed during court proceedings. Last July, the Tr…
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Leaked Document Shows the Surveillance Tech at ICE’s Fingertips
From phone location data, to social media monitoring, to online undercover tools, a document obtained by 404 Media lays out the surveillance tech available across ICE agency wide.
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The Fourth Circuit Says Border Agents Can Search Your Phone By Hand, No Suspicion Required
Legal intern Suzanne Castillo was the principal author of this post. The Fourth Circuit issued a disappointing opinion in U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo, a case in which EFF filed an amicus brief, alongside the national ACLU, its Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia affiliates, and the N…
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DOJ Now Citing Fake AI-Generated Cases To Keep ICE Detainees Locked Up
You’d think that watching multiple lawyers get caught red-handed using AI to file briefs full of made-up citations would cause everyone in the legal profession — especially prosecutors — to double-check their own. You would, of course, be wrong. And the latest offender is not just some random lawyer…
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As ICE’s tech-enabled dragnet and surveillance expand, activists are fighting back with data of their own
Over the past few months, thousands of people across the United States have organized to oppose and confront the massive wave of deportations rolled out by the Donald Trump administration. These spectacular forms of protest — from demonstrations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dete…
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The Rise of Anti-Flock Influencers Who Make Things Up for Clout
Instagram influencers are creating fake cease-and-desist letters, making themselves go viral and muddying the waters about mass surveillance.
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Flock's CEO Says its ALPRs Don't Do Video After Repeatedly Announcing They Can
Flock's CEO Garrett Langley says people don't understand the capabilities of its ALPR system, but they do.
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Keeping Watch on ICE’s Local Impact
Steady coverage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by outlets in Colorado and Connecticut. Plus: Axel Springer’s Peter Thiel party.
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At a time of harder borders and ‘ruthless’ rhetoric, the Refugee Convention is more important than ever
This month marks 75 years since the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention on July 28 1951. Negotiated in the aftermath of the second world war, the treaty came into force three years later after Australia became the sixth country to ratify it. Today, 149 states are parties to the convention and/or…