Palantir Technologies (PLTR) CEO Alex Karp defended his company’s work with the Trump Administration on a number of issues on Wednesday, including its work on restricting immigration.
“I care about two issues: immigration and restoring the deterrent capacity of America,” Karp said at the New York Times Dealbook Summit. “On those two issues, this president has performed.”
The ever loquacious Karp, who said he previously identified as a Democrat, also rejected the notion that Trump is a fascist. “Of course not,” he said. “I think that’s stupid.”
He also defended Palantir’s work with the Dept. of Homeland Security to help the administration with its goals on immigration. Palantir has received a number of contracts from the federal government to develop new software to help the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, also known as ICE.
Karp, 58, also said the company is “absolutely not” creating surveillance tools for the federal government, despite some criticism about the tools it has built for government agencies to share data.
Palantir shares rose 1.4% in midday trading on Wednesday and have jumped more than 130% year-to-date. The company now has a market cap of more than $400B, making it one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world.
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