Tag: dhs

Trump’s $795M Data Power Play Sends Palantir Soaring 140%–But Here’s the Hidden Risk

Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) is riding a wave of government contracts as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to centralize and analyze federal data. Since Trump signed an executive order in March calling for more interagency data sharing, Palantir has quietly become the go-to vendor for building that digital infrastructure. The company has landed more than $113 million in new and extended federal contracts since Trump took office including a blockbuster $795 million deal with the Pentagon last week. Palantir’s Foundry platform is already in use at Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, and engineers were recently embedded at the IRS to begin building a unified, searchable database for taxpayer records. Talks are also underway with the Social Security Administration and Department of Education, suggesting more agencies could follow.

Investor enthusiasm hasn’t lagged. Since Trump’s re-election, Palantir shares have surged more than 140%, fueled by the prospect that the company may now become the digital backbone of the U.S. federal government. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)a Musk-led initiativehas been instrumental in Palantir’s rise, with several DOGE members having ties to Palantir or Peter Thiel-backed ventures. The company’s tools are now being used to connect data points ranging from immigration status and bank accounts to student loans and disability claims. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to track migrant movements in real time another sign of how fast the government is scaling its use of Foundry.

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America’s Next Top Migrant: White House Denies Noem Backing DHS Citizenship Game Show

The White House has denied a report that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is backing a proposal for a reality TV series that pits immigrants against each other for the grand prize: a fast-track to U.S. citizenship.

According to a 35-page pitch obtained by DailyMail.com, the Department of Homeland Security has been in contact with reality TV producer Rob Worsoff – known for Duck Dynasty and Millionaire Matchmaker – on a show called The American. The show would take a dozen pre-vetted immigrants on a cross-country journey aboard a train, competing in “cultural” challenges like assembling a Model T Ford in Detroit, rolling logs in Wisconsin, and digging clams in Maine.

Contestants would be greeted in New York City at Ellis Island by “a famous, naturalized American who was also born in another country,” the pitch reads, with names like Sofia Vergara, Ryan Reynolds, and Mila Kunis floated as possible hosts. Each contestant would receive a personalized baseball glove before hitting the rails aboard “The Citizen Ship.”

“Along the way, we will be reminded what it means to be American – through the eyes of the people who want it most,” Worsoff’s pitch says.

There’d be elimination rounds, dramatic town halls, and viewer voting tallied by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff – yes, actual DHS employees, according to the proposal. The live finale would see the train stop in Washington, D.C., with the winner sworn in on Capitol Hill as Thunderbird jets roar overhead. “There won’t be a dry eye within 10 miles!” the pitch promises.

Game show prizes? Think red-white-and-blue Americana: 1 million American Airlines points, a $10,000 Starbucks gift card, or a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s top spokesperson, confirmed the department had a call with Worsoff last week. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said. Though she claimed Noem “is yet to be briefed,” DailyMail.com reports Noem supports the show and wants to move forward.

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DHS Warns AOC of Possible Arrest Over Potential Interference at ICE Facility Following Her Viral Threat

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has drawn a direct warning from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after suggesting she may take action similar to that which led to the recent arrest of a Democratic mayor outside an immigration facility.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, told Fox News that if Ocasio-Cortez attempts to interfere with federal immigration enforcement in the same manner as Democratic Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka, she could be subject to arrest.

“If she trespasses and if she assaults law enforcement officers, as we saw earlier, I think that’s certainly on the table,” McLaughlin said during an appearance on “The Bottom Line,” per Trending Politics.

“As far as we’ve heard, a lot of Democrats make the argument that they’re just conducting oversight, congressional oversight.”

The remarks follow the arrest of Baraka outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in New Jersey, as Resist the Mainstream highlighted last week. 

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DHS Probes Whether California’s Noncitizen Handout Program Is Paying ‘Ineligible Illegal Aliens’

The Trump administration is investigating whether California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), a program that pays state money to noncitizens who are not eligible for Social Security benefits because of their immigration status, is paying “ineligible illegal aliens.”

Noncitizens who are over 65, blind or disabled, and are ineligible for Social Security benefits — specifically Supplemental Security Income and State Supplementary Payment — due to their immigration status alone, can receive CAPI benefits. Those eligible can typically receive up to $1,206.94 a month, according to California Disability Benefits 101.

U.S. citizens are not eligible to receive CAPI. In July 2024 alone, CAPI paid 16,852 recipients, a state report shows.  

CAPI benefits are purportedly reserved for eligible noncitizens who are legally present in the U.S. or meet refugee criteria. However, ICE Homeland Security Investigations served a subpoena Monday to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, which administers CAPI, to “determine if ineligible illegal aliens received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the Social Security Administration” from January 2021 to present.

According to the DHS, the subpoena requests applicant information, including name and date of birth, application copies, immigration status, and proof of ineligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration.

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DHS Announces They Will Pay for Flights of Illegals Who Want to Self-Deport and Give Them a Stipend – Here is How Much Money This New Policy Will Save Taxpayers

The Department of Homeland Security has announced a creative way to ensure illegal aliens leave the country while saving taxpayers money.

As Fox News’s Bill Melugin reported this morning, the DHS announced it would start paying for the commercial flights of illegals who self-deport America. In addition, the government will also pay these illegals $1,000 extra once they are confirmed to have left the country.

To qualify, illegal immigrants must register on the CBP border app and file their notice to leave America. Moreover, illegal migrants who self-deport will be able to come back to America in the future, provided they use the legal channels.

Bill Melugin notes that the DHS told Fox News that this would result in tremendous savings for American taxpayers. Right now, it costs over $17,000 to detain, arrest, and deport someone from America.

But if an illegal accepts the offer of self-deportation, the self-removal flights and the stipend will cost only $4,500 per illegal. This is a savings of at least $12,500 for just one invader or 70% savings for the taxpayer alone.

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Real ID: Phony Security, Real Authoritarianism

Those who hoped the second Trump Administration would reject big spending, war, and restrictions on liberty continue to be disappointed. A new disappointment came when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department would in May begin enforcing the REAL ID law.

Passed in 2005, the REAL ID Act created federal standards for driver’s licenses. The law requires everyone applying for a driver’s license to provide the DMV with his social security number, proof of legal residence, and two proofs of his home address. The REAL ID Act allows the Homeland Security Department to mandate, as it sees fit, the including of addition items in the related government database, including “biometric” identifiers. Biometric identifiers include personal data such as retina scans, fingerprints, and DNA.

People who doubt that this database will be used to violate the rights of US citizens should ask what a present-day J. Edgar Hoover — a former FBI director who was notorious for collecting private information on politicians and other prominent individuals — would do with a database containing personal and even biometric information on American citizens. They should also consider the IRS’s history of targeting presidents’ political opponents. Americans also have the threat of violations of their rights by hackers. The government has a poor track record of protecting data of US citizens.

REAL ID’s supporters deny the law turns state driver’s licenses into national ID cards because states have no mandate to implement REAL ID. However, citizens of any state that refuses to adopt REAL ID will be unable to use their state-issued IDs for boarding an airplane or riding on a train.

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DHS To Revoke Temporary Protected Status For Afghans, Cameroonians In US

Thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians living in the United States will have their temporary protected status (TPS) revoked in the coming months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated TPS designations for Afghanistan and Cameroon as she determined that the countries’ current conditions no longer warrant protections, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

As The Epoch Times’ Aldgra Fredly reports, the decision will affect about 14,600 Afghans, who are set to lose their legal status in May, and approximately 7,900 Cameroonians, whose protected status will expire by June.

McLaughlin stated that Noem decided to terminate Afghanistan’s TPS designation following a review by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which had also consulted with the State Department.

TPS is a designation that allows individuals from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary events the ability to remain in the United States.

Global Refuge, a U.S.-based nonprofit refugee resettlement agency, has condemned the DHS move to revoke protections for Afghan nationals and urged the government to reverse its course.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, stated that Afghanistan has been facing a humanitarian crisis under Taliban rule, which seized power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

In a statement, Vignarajah called the decision to revoke protections for Afghans “a morally indefensible betrayal,” saying that the individuals could face oppression if deported to Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan today is still reeling from Taliban rule, economic collapse, and humanitarian disaster,” she said. 

“Forcing them back to Taliban rule, where they face systemic oppression and gender-based violence, would be an utterly unconscionable stain on our nation’s reputation.”

CASA—which organizes working-class black, Latino, African-descendant, Indigenous, and immigrant communities—said that ending TPS for Cameroonians would put them at “severe risk” due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Central African nation.

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DHS, FBI To “Hunt Down” Swatting “Cowards”

The Department of Homeland Security will “hunt down” leftists responsible for making hoax calls to police resulting in SWAT teams being dispatched to the homes of conservative influencers and journalists according to Secretary Kristi Noem.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we will not sit idly by as conservative new media and their families are being targeted by false swatting,” Noem said in a statement.

She added that “DHS has the ability to trace phone numbers and track location information. We will use it to hunt these cowards down.”

“This is an attack on our law enforcement and innocent families and we will prosecute it as such,” Noem further vowed.

FBI Director Kash Patel has also stated that the ongoing swatting will not be tolerated. 

“The FBI is aware of this dangerous trend, and my team and I are already taking action to investigate and hold those responsible accountable,” Patel noted.

“This isn’t about politics—weaponizing law enforcement against ANY American is not only morally reprehensible but also endangers lives, including those of our officers. That will not be tolerated,” he further emphasised.

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Judicial Watch Files Suit Against DHS For Records On Trump Assassination Attempt In Butler, Pa.

Judicial Watch has announced a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for records related to security provided during President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt. 

On Tuesday, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the DHS for records related to security provided for the July 13th, 2024, rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which there was an assassination attempt on Trump.

They stated that they have previously obtained records related to the event, including the Butler County District Attorney’s Office’s records on preparations for the rally and body-camera footage from the Butler Township police department. 

However, the group said that its efforts to obtain records and data from the federal government have gone unanswered.

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DHS has begun performing polygraph tests on employees to find leakers

The Department of Homeland Security has begun performing polygraph tests on employees to determine who might be leaking information to the media about immigration operations, according to four sources familiar with the practice.

The department’s plans to perform these tests was first reported by Bloomberg Government.

A spokesperson for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Border czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have blamed lower-than-expected ICE arrest numbers on recent leaks revealing the cities where it planned to conduct operations.

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