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Advocates urge NJ to divest of Palantir

Rallies demand end to political donations

By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Immigrant advocates are urging New Jersey officials to stop accepting funds from Palantir Technologies the firm that cerated immigrant tracking software.

..... Palantir Technologies has been the target of numerous rallies in front of politicians' offices and other public places across the state since September. [2025]
..... the protesters oppose Palantir because the company, co-founder by tech billionaire and Donald Trump ally Peter Thiel, cerated software used for tracking and deporting immigrants.
..... Protesters spoke out during the public portion of the virtual meeting of the New Jersey State Investment Council on April 29 [2026] and called on the state to divest $138 million in public pension funds in Palantir stock.
..... Palantir Technologies did not respond to request for comment.
..... Halieme Twam, civic engagement and advocacy manager for the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, said during the public portion that the state should diverts from Palantir due to its strategic partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry to provide AI and data analytics software to track Palestinians, in addition to the technology for immigrant detention and tracking in the U.S.
..... "When we invest in companies that power the system, we're investing in the expansion of detention, surveillance and generational trauma," Twan said.
..... Jersey City resident Meera Jaffrey, a teacher with three decades of experience in New Jersey public schools, who is in the state's pension system, said she and other public employees like her want divestment from Palantir.
..... "Our pension money should not be invested in death and destruction and deportations. Instead, we should be investing in supporting life and communities here in New Jersey by investing in ethical technology, environmental ablutions," Jaffrey said. "We are figh9tng for the soul of this state."
..... A report released on April 29 [2026] by the independent research firm Little Sis found that New Jersey's investment in Palantir stock does not comply with its environmental, social and governance policy that incorporates analysis about sustainability and ethical impact into investing.
..... "New Jersey's public pension funds are being exposed to a significant number of material, legal, reputation, and human rights risks as a result of these Palantir investments," the report says.
..... The most recent public protest was on Tax Day, April 15, [2026] in New Brunswick, where attendees called on the State Investment Council to divest from Palamtir. one of the protesters called for the divestment was Paterson resident Leqaa Kordia, the Palestinian woman re leased in March [2026] after spending a year in a Texas immigration detention center.
..... "They're feeding the system; they're providing the system with our data. They are making us data. We refuse to be data," Kordia said at the protest. "We're human beings. We deserve to live with dignity; we deserve to live with freedom and justice. And with Plantir in the picture this is never going to happen."
..... That protest followed one on April 13 [2026] in Hackensack to protest Representative Josh Gotthermer's receiving $13,600 in donations from Palantir executing and senior leadership, and on April 11 [2026] in Bridgewater, opposing Republican Thomas Kean Jr.'s accepting $7,000 in donations from Thiel.

National opposition

..... New Jersey protests against Palantir mirror a broader nationwide movement against the technology firm.
..... The company cited a yearlong campaign against it in Denver as one of the main reasons it moved its headquarters form the Mile High City to Miami.
..... Palantir was founded in 2003 and is a data analytics firm hat has developed technology used by governments and the military across the world.
..... Critics have taken issue with Palantir's contracts and the controversial use of their technology.
..... The American Friends Service Committee, which is part of the Purge Palantir campaign, said the firm has developed software and platforms used by ICE in Immigrant deportations and tracking;
* ImmigraitonOS, a technology platform, tracks people who plan to self-deport and targets gang members and those who have overstayed their visas by collecting biographical and biometric data from government databases to identify immigrants. The company was awarded a $30 million federal contract in April 2025 to develop the platform, which will be used by Immigration and Costumes Enforcement.
* ELITE is a tool that enables ICE agents to identify neighborhoods for "potential deportation targets."
* FALCON allows agents to searches for personal information of potential targets, such as names and GPS location via cell tower data.
..... The same Palantir campaign has also listed politicians who received donations from the company.
..... Topping the list is President Donald Trump, who makes his summer home at his golf club in Bedminster. he has received over $2 million in donations from Palantir executives.
..... Other former and current New Jersey congress members besides Gotheimer who have received donations directly from Palantir, according to federal election records, include Andy Kim, ($6,032) now-Governor Mikie Sherrill ($1,630), Donald Norcross ($500) and Thomas Malinowski )$500).
..... Kean and Gotheimer did not response to request for comment.
,,,,, Nedia Morsy, the director of the immigrates' rights advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey, one of the organizations that have been protesting elected officials receiving Palantir donations, said it is import for her group and others to protest Palantir's involvement in the political system.
..... "We cannot have AI (company) influence in the midterm elections. The fact that members of Congress are taking donations from Palntir raises serious concerns about whose interests are at the forefront," Morsy said.
..... "We have a responsibility to educate community members, taxpayers, families and union members about how exactly Palantir is the tech and surveillance backbone behind the largest deportation machine in American history," Morsey said.

What they had to say

..... Morsy said the protest organizers did not hear directly form those they protested. NorthJersey.com was just as unsuccessful.
..... The state's Treasury Department, which oversees the Division of Investment, was the only one that responded to request for comment about the protests.
..... Darryl Isherwood, a spokespersons for the Treasury Department, said the Investment Division manages the state pension fund "in the best interest of government retirees, who often rely on their pensions as a primary source of retirement income. "He did not say whether the State Investment Council would diverts from Palantir.

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