08/19/2026
Behind every headline about our nation's aggressive immigration enforcement is a trail of human suffering likely facilitated by big tech. In July, Lorenzo Salgado was the tenth person to be fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since President Trump began his second term. Mass detention policies have led to the incarceration of more than six thousand children, some as young as two months old. At Delaney Hall, just five miles from my New Jersey convent, detainees went on a multi-week hunger and labor strike, leading to protests outside the gates which were met with violence by ICE and police, including the now-infamous pepper-spraying of a U.S. Senator.
My heart has been broken repeatedly over the past year as I have volunteered outside Delaney Hall and listened to the stories of families torn apart by mass detention. One womanâs husband was held for four months after ICE agents forcibly removed him from a domestic flight to Florida. They were headed to Disney World on vacation. I recently consoled two teenage girls trying to locate their sister and uncle who were taken when ICE agents stopped their vehicle outside a local shopping center after scanning their license plate.
These stories are anecdotal, but they give me pause. They point to the use of personal data by ICE officers, powered by Artificial Intelligence. âThe use of AI is never a purely technical matter,â writes Pope Leo in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, âwhen it enters processes that affect people's lives, it touches on rights, opportunities, status and freedom.â Because they have a âparticular ethical and spiritual responsibility,â Pope Leo calls on developers to âtransparency, responsibility toward affected communities, and careful attention to ensuring that what is being cultivated is a genuine good.â
As responsible investors, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace believe that technology is meant to serve not harm humanity. This belief was behind our recent shareholder proposal asking Palantir to conduct a human rights impact assessment examining the actual and potential human rights impacts associated with the issue of their products and services. Our concern centers on the use of Palantir software by governmental agencies and corporations to violate human rights, including by ICE to track individuals for detention, deportation, and revoking immigration status.
More than 150 interfaith faith leaders and organizations signed a letter urging Palantir to assess and address the human rights impacts of its technology. Thirty-four investors representing over $336 billion in assets sent a letter to the Palantir Board expressing concerns about insufficient due diligence and transparency, particularly given the Companyâs publicly stated commitments to international human rights standards.
In addition to the concerns outlined in our proposal about use by U.S. government agencies like ICE, the U.K. government is now reviewing its National Health Services contract with Palantir over the handling of private health data. The United Nations has raised the alarm about Palantirâs strategic partnership with the Israeli military, which provides software to automated decision-making for identifying targets in Gaza.
At the June annual general meeting, more than half of external independent shareholders-fifty-six percent supported our proposal. This is significant and sends a message to management that its shareholders are concerned about potential human rights abuses facilitated by the use of Palantir technologies, both by governments and private companies around the world. While the proposal failed to pass, receiving thirteen percent support, keep in mind that because of Palantirâs three-class share structure, Alex Karp, Steven Cohen, and Peter Thiel retain 49.999999% of the voting power. This outsized control makes it impossible for proposals brought by other shareholders to win an overall majority.
Some have asked why we continue to invest in companies like Palantir if we are so concerned about the potential misuse of their technology. We understand and respect that some of our investor peers have chosen to divest instead of continuing to pressure the Company through ongoing shareholder engagement. We believe that staying invested allows us to continue to exert meaningful pressure for the company to improve its human rights practices.
As Pope Francis noted, AI systems âend up reflecting and reinforcing the stereotypes or ideological biases of their designers and developers.â Three individuals essentially have control over the direction of the company. Other voices are needed, and so we will stay at the table to raise moral and ethical questions and give voice to the real-life human impacts.
Op-Ed by Sr. Susan Francois, Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
