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Investigates Investigates Money Diaries Daft.ie Property Magazine Allianz Home Magazine The 42 Sports Magazine TG4 Entertainment Magazine The Journal TV Climate Crisis Cost of Living Road Safety Newsletters Temperature Check Inside the Newsroom The Journal Investigates The Explainer A deep dive into one big news story Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture have your say Or create a free account to join the discussion Advertisement More Stories Pro-Palestine rally in mid-town Manhattan on 16 August, 2025 in New York City.Alamy Stock Photo Amnesty International US using AI surveillance tools to target migrants and pro-Palestine protesters, says Amnesty Amnesty said it’s ‘concerning the US government is deploying invasive AI-powered technologies within a context of mass deportation and a crackdown on pro-Palestine expression’. 6.31am, 21 Aug 2025 Share options US AUTHORITIES ARE using AI-powered surveillance tools to target non-US citizens who support Palestine and to aid with its migrant crackdown, according to Amnesty International. Amnesty International has reviewed documentation which shows that AI tools Babel X and Palantir’s Immigration OS have automated capabilities that enable constant mass monitoring and surveillance, often for the purpose of targeting non-US citizens. The human rights organisation added that its research shows how these tools are being used by the US government to track migrants and that the tools also “carry a high risk of being used as part of the ‘Catch and Revoke’ initiative”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched the AI-powered “Catch and Revoke” to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups. The AI-driven ‘Catch and Revoke’ initiative combines social media monitoring, visa status tracking, and automated threat assessments of foreign individuals on visas, including international students. However, critics warn that Pro-Palestinian sentiments have often been conflated with antisemitism or pro-terrorism, leaving people vulnerable to being caught in an AI-enabled social media net. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International, said the “coercive ‘Catch and Revoke’ initiative risks supercharging arbitrary and unlawful visa revocations, detentions, deportations and violations of a slew of human rights”. She also said it is “deeply concerning that the US government is deploying invasive AI-powered technologies within a context of a mass deportation agenda and crackdown on pro-Palestine expression”. Babel X is provided by Babel Street, which has partnered with 84% of US national security agencies. Babel X can gather sweeping amounts of data from a single identifier, such as a person’s name, email, or phone number. Amnesty said that information gathered by Babel X can be used by US authorities to make a decision about revoking an individual’s visa. However, it warns that “probabilistic technologies used to draw inferences about individuals’ intent have massive margins for error, can often be discriminatory and biased, and could lead to falsely framing pro-Palestine content as antisemitic”. Advertisement Amnesty said that Babel X has been “tasked specifically with monitoring refugees and asylum seekers” and warns that it “risks rendering individuals suspicious by default, and subjecting them to the risk of visa revocation, detention and deportation”. Immigration OS by Palantir In April 2025, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to track “self-deportations” and identify priority deportation cases, particularly visa overstays. The Immigration OS system serves as an upgrade to a previous Palantir system which had been used by ICE since 2014. Amnesty claimed that the Immigration OS “automates an already deeply flawed and unaccountable process that has a history of disregarding due process and human rights”. During the first Trump administration, in 2020, Amnesty International wrote to Palantir about its human rights due diligence processes. In response, Palantir said it “shares your organization’s concern with the potential serious human rights violations against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at the US–Mexico border”. ‘Due diligence’ In July, Amnesty contacted Palantir Technologies and Babel Street for comment. Babel Street did not respond, but Palantir Technologies said its product was not used to power the “Catch and Revoke” effort. However, Palantir said its Immigration OS “does include work that directly serves” ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. Amnesty said the “Trump administration’s public intention to engage in mass deportations” meant the companies “could have reasonably foreseen the risk of harm being seen across the country and reconsidered entering into these contracts”. “Had Palantir and Babel Street adequately carried out human rights due diligence, these companies could and should have similarly declined to engage in these mass deportation efforts,” said Guevara-Rosas. She called on Palantir and Babel Street to “conduct and publish the full findings of human rights due diligence processes” . “Unless Palantir and Babel Street can demonstrate they can use their leverage as suppliers to improve the serious human rights consequences borne by the policies of their clients,” said Guevara-Rosas, “these companies should immediately cease their work with the US administration related to immigration enforcement.” Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... 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