• 2025-09-30 14:57:16
• Gun Violence

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — It's time for New Jersey to dump some stock, activists say.

On Monday, a large crowd of immigrant rights activists gathered for a march in Newark to demand that New Jersey divest its stock in Palantir Technologies, a Colorado-based company that specializes in data mining. The company is co-founded by Peter Thiel, a donor to President Donald Trump and other prominent Republican politicians.

New Jersey's state pension funds currently

According to Make the Road New Jersey – one of the advocacy groups that helped to spearhead Monday's rally in Newark – Palantir's technology uses massive amounts of data to detect patterns and flag people who meet ICE's criteria for deportation. Advocates

Palantir has seen criticism for profiting off the renewed wave of deportations taking place under the Trump administration. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Trump took office – not including a $795 million contract with the Department of War – which has raised questions about whether the president might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him "untold surveillance power," according to a

These deals have helped Palantir's stock rise from around $40 a share in November to more than $150 a share, Mother Jones

Palantir has since

"Palantir is not a vendor on any master database project to unify databases across federal agencies," the company stated, adding that it "has not proposed the U.S. government build a 'master list' for the surveillance of citizens, nor have we been asked to consider building such a system for any customer."

"Since our founding, we have always placed the preservation of privacy and civil liberties at the center of our mission," Palantir asserted.

Activists in New Jersey argue otherwise.

"As ICE and this administration carry out their mass deportation agenda, billionaire corporations are getting rich off these deportations and disappearances," said Nedia Morsy, co-executive director for Make the Road New Jersey.

"No more – we are demanding that our state divest from Palantir Technologies," Morsy added. "Not one cent should line the pockets of a company that has been tasked to spy on us and help ICE continue to harm our communities."

Activists said they are particularly concerned about ImmigrationOS, a tech platform that will

It isn't only immigrants who should be worried, advocates say.

"This escalation of surveillance technology should alarm us all – immigrants are the target for this system, but the implications for our constitutional rights and privacy impact all Americans," said Theo Oshiro, the group's other co-executive director.

Ryan Gherety of the Athena Coalition alleged that the "growing alliance between the White House and tech billionaires" is "dangerous and corrupt."

"It's time for states around the country to divest from corporations that are willing to sell out our civil liberties and civil rights," Gherety said.

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In the video below, activists march in Newark, New Jersey on Sept. 29, 2025 (courtesy of Make the Road NJ)