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Ex-Democratic Sen. Jon Tester Joins Palantir as Tech Giant Faces Probe for Helping Trump’s Deportation Campaign
Palantir, co-founded by the billionaire right-wing megadonor Peter Thiel, has received tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts supporting President Donald Trump's “mass deportation” campaign during his second term. The company has developed technology that has been used to identify and track immigrants targeted for removal and has reportedly helped federal agencies integrate vast troves of Americans’ personal data—raising concerns among civil rights groups about violations of privacy.
After Trump returned to office in January 2025, Palantir's leadership aggressively courted his administration. The company's CEO, Alex Karp, who had supported Kamala Harris over Trump in the presidential election, gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund before pivoting to praise the president's immigration policies and declare his company “completely anti-woke.” Palantir donated an additional $10 million to Trump's White House ballroom project. Meanwhile, company co-founder Joe Lonsdale has been one of the leading backers of the administration's second-term efforts to criminalize homelessness.
This has drawn the ire of Democrats in Congress, who have vowed to put Palantir's practices under the microscope when they take control of investigative committees beginning in January.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who will chair the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has threatened to use compulsory investigative powers if Palantir refuses to answer questions about its role in Trump's immigration enforcement and handling of Americans' personal information. Other Democrats have suggested looking into conflicts of interest between the company and the administration.
Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy, who was appointed White House chief of staff last week, for instance, has disclosed that he sold up to $250,000 worth of Palantir stock last summer. Several former Palantir employees have been appointed to powerful government positions. Thiel helped to finance the political rise of Vice President JD Vance.
Protesters gather in the lobby of 9200 Sunset in Los Angeles on June 13, 2025, to protest Palantir's work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Photo by Madison Swart/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Tester, a vocal critic of the PATRIOT Act and the resulting expansion of government surveillance, told NPR that Palantir's problem was, more than anything, one of "perception."
"Perception is reality in Washington, DC, and in politics in general," said Tester. "But the fact is, I think Palantir has got a good story to tell, and they need to tell it. And hopefully folks will be receptive to it."
Tester said he does not share the fears that many others hold about his new employer: "I've talked to many people within Palantir. They believe the same way I do," he said. "This is an organization that believes in privacy."
He said Palantir was different from other companies because it does not build “big databases.” Though the company maintains that it does not itself collect or own the personal data processed by its software, it specializes in building systems that consolidate, store, cross-reference, and analyze vast amounts of data from different sources.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for instance, has used a Palantir-developed application called ELITE that combines address data from federal health records, immigration records, commercial databases, and criminal records to map potential targets for immigration raids. Shortly before the midterms, Democracy Docket revealed that ICE had tried to add voter information from at least six states to the platform.
Last month, a WIRED investigation revealed how federal agents assembled dossiers on activists observing immigration enforcement operations in Maine using Palantir's Investigative Case Management system to store information about them—including license plate data and facial recognition information.
During his time in Congress, Tester also criticized lobbyists’ influence over Congress, even while receiving more donations from lobbyists than any other lawmaker in the 2012 and 2018 election cycles.
David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, said that for the former senator, the transition from surveillance critic to Palantir adviser was quite “on-brand.”
Pollster Adam Carlson described it as "just about the grossest way he could end his career."
"I can count on one hand companies that are more evil and have caused more direct human suffering than Palantir," Carlson said. "And these kinds of revolving door antics make the public even more jaded and distrustful of their elected officials."
Tester has said he would not be acting as a “lobbyist” for Palantir but would instead merely be helping it to navigate its relations with the incoming Congress, using his nearly two decades of insider experience.
Tester is not the first former Democratic lawmaker to take a role advising an industry that has drawn criticism from within the party.
Recent examples include former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), a one-time Democrat who joined Coinbase's advisory council and helped launch an artificial intelligence industry advocacy group, and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), who joined a fossil fuel industry-funded influence campaign to promote natural gas as part of a clean energy transition.
Melanie D'Arrigo, the executive director of the New York Health Campaign, said Tester's journey to the private sector was an example of this “politician to lobbyist pipeline.”
As Trump Threatens to ‘Destroy the Rest of’ Iran, Top Democrat Vows Ending War Will Be One of ‘First Things We Do’
Smith said he expects Democrats will pursue a bill that forbids any further funding for the conflict, which the Pentagon says has cost over $47 billion, though independent estimates put the cost much higher.
A bill of this sort, Smith said, would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump, meaning Republicans in both chambers would need to provide enough votes to override his veto.
Overwhelming opposition to the Iran War, which has dragged on without an end in sight and caused inflation to surge, played a central role in the electoral beatdown Republicans suffered on Tuesday. Nationwide, 63% of voters said launching the war was the "wrong decision," according to an NBC News exit poll. Among those voters, 82% favored Democrats.
Nearly three-quarters of voters (74%) said that the war was a "crucial or major" factor in their vote, and 63% of them said they chose Democrats.
But even as members of his party, including Vice President JD Vance, state plainly that "the reason we lost is the war," Trump has continued to defend it and suggested he may pursue deeper intervention.
"I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I'll have to," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "You'll know soon enough."
Trump has made similar threats to "annihilate" Iran, "blow up" the country, and eradicate the "whole civilization" for months. But now that the midterms are over, there are fewer political pressures holding him back from following through on these threats.
The administration reportedly has plans drawn up for a renewed, large-scale bombing campaign that could target the country's energy infrastructure, military installations, and nuclear facilities, possibly with Israeli participation. Last month, it was reported that Trump was mulling dropping "the mother of all bombs," the largest nonnuclear bomb in the American arsenal, on Iran, which poses the risk of massive civilian casualties.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who received a classified briefing about the plans days before the midterms, called them "insane" and said they involved deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in violation of international law.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the only Iranian American Democrat in the US Congress, said that Trump's renewed threats on Thursday only increase the urgency of ending the war.
"He’s once again threatening the annihilation of a country of 90 million people," Ansari wrote on social media. "A crime against humanity. Democrats must work urgently to end Trump’s reckless war of choice when we take back the House and the Senate. Enough is enough."
A "flurry of diplomatic activity" has followed the midterms, according to reporting by Axios' Barak Ravid. Iranian negotiators have spoken with regional mediators about a possible deal for the US to lift its naval blockade and release some of Iran’s frozen funds in exchange for nuclear talks and an end to Iran's travel restrictions through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the same report, US Central Command was "finalizing preparations" to restart major combat operations in Iran, though there has not been an official directive from Washington.
"The American people delivered a clear mandate to end the illegal war on Iran," said the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) on Thursday. "Trump instead suggests he may escalate the war and commit war crimes to 'destroy the rest of' Iran. This is outrageous and unacceptable."
"Congress," it said, "must cut off funding for this war NOW."
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before speaking at Anduril Industries in Sparrows Point, Maryland, on October 6, 2026. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Democrats may have opportunities to push for the end of the war before January.
Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), the leading Republican critic of the war, whom Trump helped to defeat in his primary earlier this year, has said he plans to force a vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth next week for violating the war powers resolution passed by Congress.
"By every estimation, it will pass and he will be impeached," Smith said. "And off that goes to the Senate. Then the Senate is legally required to spend all of their time dealing with that until it’s done with."
Still, it remains an open question whether the necessary two-thirds of senators would vote to remove Hegseth and whether the pressure could meaningfully affect the war.
Another chance to stop the war will come on December 11, when Congress will need to approve another spending measure to prevent a government shutdown.
According to Roll Call, the progressive advocacy group Indivisible sent a memo on Thursday pushing Democrats to block a National Defense Authorization Act and refuse to fund the Pentagon if “it doesn’t cut off money for the war.”
“Voters have granted Democrats majorities in the House and Senate with a clear mandate: End this war," said Jamal Abdi, the president of NIAC. "The first test of the Democrats’ commitment to that mandate will be when Congress takes up legislation to fund the government before funding runs out on December 11."
"After having won Congress thanks to a massively unpopular war," he said, "the best way to squander this momentum would be for Democrats to turn around and provide funding for the president to continue the conflict."
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