ICE official says at Border Security Expo that Palantir gives agents a list of 20 million people on their iPhones, per 404 Media

404 Media reported on May 12, 2026 that a senior ICE official, speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, said Palantir systems give agents what amounts to a list of 20 million people on their iPhones. 404 Media says it spoke to four people who attended the conference. The expo ran May 4-6, 2026 in Phoenix; the agenda lists no speaker names, so the day of the remarks is not bound here.

Biometric Update repeated the account a week later and named the official: Matthew Elliston, assistant director of law enforcement systems and analysis at ICE. It says Elliston said Palantir raised ICE’s rate of locating a target from around 27 percent to just under 80 percent, and that the system gives the agency access to between 30 and 40 datasets. It also says he discussed Mobile Fortify, the facial recognition app, as used 200,000 times with a 0 percent mismatch rate.

For contrast, 404 Media reported in January that testimony from a CBP official described Mobile Fortify returning two different names after scanning a woman’s face during an immigration raid.