Nurses March to Demand that Palantir Stop Targeting their Patients

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(San Francisco, Sept. 30) - From Jessie Square, nurses from The Ca. Nurses Assoc. & National Nurses United gathered to march up Market Street to the ICE detention Center at 630 Sansome Street. They marched to demand that public institutions, hospitals, universities, and pension funds cancel their existing contracts and relationships with Palantir.

The mass of over 1000 red shirted nurses and supporter came from throughout the US and some from Great Britain. They held signs that demanded “Palantir Out!” proclaiming “Palantir Tracks – Ice Attacks” and “patients over Palantir.” They were furious that Palantir was enabling Trump’s ethnic cleansing by pointing ICE goons to kidnap and deport people seeking heath care.

Palantir’s collaborates with federal immigration enforcement through its app called ELITE. ELITE is used by federal agents to identify people for arrest using, in part, improperly obtained Medicaid data.

According to CNA/NNOC president Sandy Reding, RN. “The violence and destruction unleashed by immigration agents and enabled by Palantir is a total violation of nursing values of care and compassion."

As one T-shirt put it, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Martin Luther King.

The marchers held red umbrellas with printed eyes to symbolize resistance to Palantir's prying eyes. The marchers sat down in front of the ICE building at 630 Sansome Street. They heard speakers express a determination to get Panlantir out of their health care practices and to oppose the development of data centers in their neighborhoods. There is clear evidence about mounting environmental damage, noise pollution, and the unmet promise of permanent jobs to boost local economies caused by data centers.

See all high resolution photos here.