Dov Baum / AFSC
NEW YORK (March 24, 2026) The President and Chief Executive Officer of New York City Health + Hospital Corporation (NYCHHC) said last Monday that they will not renew their contract with the controversial surveillance tech company Palantir Technologies Inc. Activists and community groups have been demanding that NYCHHC end their contract with Palantir because of the company’s role in immigration enforcement, militarism, genocide, and mass surveillance. The company provides ICE with its key surveillance systems and the U.S. military with AI targeting platform used in the bombing of Iranian cities.
“The City’s Health and Hospitals system had to cut its ties with Palantir,” said Olivia Leirer, Executive Director, New York Communities for Change. “Palantir is a grotesque example of the Silicon Valley/ Trump partnership that exploits all of us, the country and our city. A company whose business model is based on selling private data and targeting immigrants cannot be trusted with our public dollars and data.”
Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer of NYCHHC, the largest municipal health care system in the United States, told the NYC City Council that the hospital system’s contract with Palantir will not be renewed when it expires in October 2026. This statement follows reporting by the Intercept exposing the hospital contract after American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) published a map of institutions, investment funds, and politicians with ties to Palantir that uncovered the contract.
"Palantir makes money by enabling mass violence in the U.S. and around the world. They should have no place in our hospitals, our pension funds, or our government,” said Kenny Morris, an organizer with AFSC supporting the Purge Palantir Campaign. “Our campaign against Palantir doesn’t stop in NYC. We will continue to isolate this company and limit its destructive influence on our lives. In this city and around the world, communities are organizing to push more and more corporate clients, institutions, and politicians to cut ties with Palantir."
Once Palantir’s contract with NYCHHC was revealed, local organizations began taking action. New York Communities for Change, NYC Planet Over Profit, the Climate Organizing Hub, Make the Road, and other NYC community groups demanded an end to the contract. New York City residents also gave testimony against Palantir’s work with NYCHHC to the NYC City Council.
“We applaud Health & Hospitals for discontinuing their contract with Palantir,” says Jonathan Westin, Executive Director, Climate Organizing Hub in NYC. “Palantir is supporting ICE’s destruction of communities and separation of families, while spying on NYC residents. The city should cut all contracts with Palantir and we’re happy Health & Hospitals is leading the way.”
Jennifer Hernandez of Make the Road New York said, “As ICE agents abduct and disappear immigrants and US citizens alike, our city must take a firm stand: no business with corporations that collude with ICE. Billionaire tech firm Palantir is one of ICE's top contractors and a key architect of Trump's authoritarian regime. Palantir's AI powered technology supercharges ICE's ability to track and attack immigrants, activists and all of us. Palantir has no place in our city, and especially not with safety net hospitals that serve New Yorkers from all walks of life. We thank the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation for its important move to sever ties with Palantir and call on the city to cut all ties with Palantir immediately.”
“Palantir shouldn’t be anywhere near the private health data of New Yorkers, and the public’s money shouldn’t be anywhere near Palantir,” said Michael Kink, Executive Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition in New York. “HHC’s action should be the first step to detaching all city contracts and all public pension funds from the worst corporation of the 21st century.”
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The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine Light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.