Two of Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress say they will each donate tens of thousands of dollars to immigrant rights groups to offset the campaign money they’ve raised from current and former employees of Palantir, the controversial Denver-based data mining company.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora has received the fourth largest sum of Palantir-linked donations among all Democratic members of Congress at $59,700, according to a new database created by activists focused on the government contractor’s influence. U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper is No. 5 on the list at $51,507.
Their donation announcements came after inquiries from The Colorado Sun last week and as civil liberties groups are increasingly criticizing Palantir for its role in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
Palantir’s revenue has surged in the past year, driven in part by an increase in government contracts, including lucrative deals with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During the recent increase of ICE activity in Minnesota, federal agents have been using a Palantir database that combines government and commercial data to identify real-time locations for people they are pursuing, the New York Times reported.
The “Purge Palantir” database tracks donations received by principal campaign committees, leadership PACs and single-candidate super PACs from Palantir’s corporate PAC — Employees of Palantir Technologies Inc. PAC — and all individuals who have Palantir listed as their employer in filings with the Federal Elections Commission.
Most of the Palantir-linked money Crow and Hickenlooper received came from people who hold or have held senior leadership positions within Palantir.
The Purge Palantir database identified those donors as CEO Alex Karp; former senior adviser Jacob Helberg, who is now U.S. undersecretary of state for economic affairs; Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar; Mehdi Alhassani, head of government affairs for Palantir; Akash Jain, president of Palantir’s federal business unit; Executive Vice President Josh Harris; former senior defense advisor Doug Philippone; Cofounder Stephen Cohen; Chief Financial Officer David Glazer; Ryan Taylor, who is Palantir’s chief revenue officer and chief legal officer; Wendy Anderson, the company’s former senior vice president for national security; Benjamin Klein, the business’s former senior vice president for government affairs; Cofounder Joe Lonsdale; Cofounder Nathan Gettings; and Senior Vice President of Defense Solutions Bryant Choung.
Not all of those donors gave to Hickenlooper or Crow.
Jess Cohen, a spokesperson for the Hickenlooper campaign, said the senator stopped accepting donations from Palantir employees after the company announced a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to develop an “extensive surveillance platform for ICE last year.”
“In response to ICE’s escalating violence, Hickenlooper is donating those campaign funds he previously received to local nonprofits who provide legal assistance, shelter, and other services to immigrants in Colorado,” Cohen said in a statement.
Filings with the FEC show Crow and Hickenlooper have not accepted any Palantir-related campaign donations since March of 2025. The Sun found Palantir-linked donations to Hickenlooper’s campaign committee dating back to 2020 and to his leadership PAC dating back to 2023. Hickenlooper received money from Cohen, Karp, Sankar, Klein and Jain. His largest Palantir-linked donation appears to be $12,000 from Karp to the Hickenlooper Victory Fund committee in March 2025.
The Sun found donations to Crow’s campaign committee dating back to 2021 and to his leadership PAC dating back to 2023. Crow received money from Jain, Karp, Klein, Anderson, Alhassani, Sankar and Philippone. His largest Palantir-linked donation appears to be $5,000 from Karp to his leadership PAC in August 2023.
Karp recently purchased a monastery near Aspen for $120 million.
Crow serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and is a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations of the House Armed Services Committee. Hickenlooper serves on the following committees: Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
The three other congressional Democrats who have received more Palantir-linked campaign money than Crow and Hickenlooper are U.S. Reps. Adam Smith of Washington ($105,051), and Pat Ryan ($92,900) and Josh Riley ($74,951) of New York.
Last week, Ryan announced he would donate all campaign funds he received from officials at companies that hold contracts with ICE, including Palantir.
In December, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, donated $29,300 — the sum of his campaign contributions from Palantir’s chief technology officer — to immigrant rights groups.
Other Colorado Democrats in Congress have received contributions from current or former Palantir leaders, including U.S. Reps. Brittany Pettersen ($1,500) and Diana DeGette ($833).
Spokespeople for Pettersen and DeGette did not respond to requests for comment.
The tracker didn’t find any relevant Palantir-related donations to Colorado Republicans in Congress.