People vs. Palantir: Hundreds of Nurses March in San Francisco Over ICE Data Contracts

At about 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 30, hundreds of nurses and community supporters gathered at Jessie Square in downtown San Francisco and marched to the federal building at 630 Sansome Street, home to ICE's San Francisco field office.

Who Organized the Action

The demonstration was led by National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, drawing healthcare workers together with community allies. Local broadcaster KRON described the crowd as numbering in the hundreds, while organizers and coverage by SFGate estimated roughly 1,000 participants.

Why Palantir Was Targeted

Although the march stopped outside the ICE field office, organizers made clear the protest also targeted Palantir Technologies, the San Francisco–based data-analytics company. Protest leaders framed the action as part of a broader Global Week of Action calling for accountability over Palantir's reported government contracts, arguing the company's tools help ICE "target, track, and detain" immigrants — language reflecting protesters' claims rather than any judicial finding.

Chants, Demands, and Broader Goals

Banners reading "People vs. Palantir" and chants of "Patients over Palantir!" tied nurses' concerns about health systems' ties to Palantir to the wider immigration-justice movement. Organizers urged hospitals, universities, and pension funds to end contracts with the company, and some protesters also voiced broader policy demands, including calls to abolish ICE and support for Medicare for All.

Palantir's Response

A Palantir spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review the protesters' claims were "baseless," asserting the company does not collect or store data, conduct surveillance, or set immigration-enforcement policy. Palantir has also stressed that its Foundry platform includes granular security controls and denied that it unlawfully surveils Americans.

Oversight Findings and Concerns

Independent oversight groups and public officials present a more complicated picture. The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that ICE uses a Palantir tool called ELITE for what it described as "prioritized enforcement," including surfacing addresses linked to people with final removal orders or serious criminal charges — an account the EFF tied to Palantir's own descriptions. A New York City comptroller's letter similarly noted a marked shift when Palantir reportedly began working with ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, raising concerns about disproportionate enforcement.

Congressional Scrutiny

Accountability has moved into the legislative sphere. In 2026, Rep. Dan Goldman, Sen. Ron Wyden, and Rep. Nydia Velázquez opened a formal inquiry requesting records about Palantir's DHS and ICE contracts, seeking contract values, performance periods, and the specific systems the company supports. That request signals the debate has gone beyond protests to formal oversight.

What Comes Next

The pressure on Palantir is coming from multiple directions: street protests, institutional divestment calls, procurement reviews, and congressional oversight. Which avenue proves decisive will determine whether "People vs. Palantir" becomes a turning point or a sustained pressure campaign.

Concrete Demand: Critics and the NYC comptroller have asked for a transparent, independent human-rights risk assessment of Palantir's work with ICE. That assessment — and the gap between Palantir's public statements and oversight findings — was a key motivator for the march.

All claims about what Palantir's tools do remain contested: the company denies the allegations, while civil-liberties groups and public officials point to documented uses and internal descriptions that raise concerns. The demonstration at Jessie Square is one visible expression of that unresolved debate.