Headquartered in Medina, Minnesota, Polaris provides all-terrain vehicles to the Israeli military, illegal settlements, as well as US police and border patrol.
Israeli Security Forces
The Israeli military has been using Polaris MVRS 700 all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) since the 2006 Lebanon War. They were used in Israel’s 2008 and 2014 ground invasions of the Gaza Strip, mainly as an evacuation vehicle. It is unclear if Polaris ATVs were used during Israel’s 2023-2025 genocidal war on Gaza. However, they are still in use, as the Israeli military paid for Polaris ATV maintenance as late as April 2024.
In 2025, the Israeli Settlement Ministry distributed Polaris Ranger utility task vehicles to 59 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, specifically the to remote "settler farms" and "shepherding outposts." These remote settlements have proliferated since October 7, 2023, in an orchestrated move to permanently displace as many Palestinian communities as possible from land labeled as "Area C." The Israeli Settlement Ministry, in coordination with the military, made the distribution into a media spectacle in three delivery events:
- March - 21 settlements in the Northern West Bank
- April - 19 settlements in the Masafer Yatta area
- May - 19 settlements in the Jordan Valley
The vehicle purchase was part of a $20 million package that also included drones, night vision goggles, and other “security” measures.
US Police and Immigration Enforcement Authorities
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) uses Polaris ATVs and other vehicles to patrol rugged terrain along the U.S.–Mexico border, particularly in remote areas that are inaccessible to other vehicles. Between 2005 and 2021, CBP held at least 41 contracts with Polaris for RZR, Sportsman 550, and other all-terrain vehicles (ATVs); Ranger utility task vehicles (UTVs); tactical vehicles; and snowmobiles. Some of these contracts specify where this equipment has been sent. A 2014 contract, for example, shows that Polaris terrain vehicles were sent to CBP’s Tucson Sector in Arizona, which covers 262 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border. In addition to contracting directly with Polaris, CBP purchases the company’s vehicles from third-party providers. In 2022, for instance, the agency awarded North Carolina–based MacGyver Solutions an almost $900,000 contract for nearly 100 Sportsman 450 and 850 ATVs.
Local police departments that operate in cooperation with CBP and ICE also use Polaris vehicles to patrol areas near the U.S.–Mexico border. In 2021, for example, the Marfa Police Department in Texas requested state funding for a Polaris off-road vehicle in order to assist Border Patrol with Texas’s “border security plan.”
Between 2008 and 2018, Polaris also held eight contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the same ATVs and UTVs.