Some of the self-styled thought leaders in tech have started handing out the same professional advice to young engineers: Don’t work at Palantir. The software company I once worked at that allows their customers to better manage their data is apparently shredding democracy and working there would make them complicit in a totalitarian takeover.

The specific beef is Palantir’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The idea that this work is inherently authoritarian was recently reinforced by about a dozen sitting lawmakers, including Massachusetts Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and “Squad” Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who sent a joint letter to Palantir leadership accusing them of “enabling and profiting from serious violations of Federal law by the Trump Administration.”

Neither the thought leaders nor our beloved public servants have specified which law exactly Palantir is violating. And that’s because there isn’t one. This is an empty accusation. Palantir is, in fact, part of a much-needed tech upgrade in government. The people claiming that it’s “building the police state” just don’t like what existing immigration laws are, and they’d rather tar Palantir than do the normal work of politics.