Thousands of these new ICE hires were issued access to the ELITE app, a Palantir tool for targeting immigrants, before their background checks were completed. ^[1] The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency enabled the ELITE application on official phones for newly incorporated deportation agents. ^[2] Callahan noted that giving newly hired ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations staff access to sensitive databases like ELITE threatens public safety by allowing non-vetted teams to access and potentially misuse data. ^[3] During a hiring surge in early 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added over 12,000 employees through an expedited hiring process that reduced training requirements. ^[4] Mary Ellen Callahan, former chief of staff to the deputy secretary of Homeland Security, stated that no one should have been hired by DHS before background reviews were completed. ^[5] The application integrates data from approximately a dozen sources to provide sensitive information including names, addresses, immigration history, criminal records, and other personally identifiable information (PII). ^[6] The Department of Homeland Security has not published a specific Privacy Impact Assessment for the ELITE application, according to experts cited in a report by The Intercept. ^[7] The ELITE application, created by Palantir Technologies, processes government data to generate trust indices and map addresses linked to potential targets. ^[8] Reports indicate that some newly hired deportation agents received access to the ELITE application before completing their background verifications. ^[9]