Palantir CEO defends company's border work with ICE
- Ina Fried, author of Axios Login
Palantir CEO Alex Karp. Photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images
Palantir CEO Alex Karp defended his company's government work, including working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in a CNBC interview on Thursday.
Why it matters: The Peter Thiel-backed company is often criticized both for the secrecy and nature of its work with government and law enforcement.
What he's saying: "The core mission of our company always was to make the West, especially America, the strongest in the world, the strongest it's ever been, for the sake of global peace and prosperity, and we feel like this year we really showed what that would mean," Karp said in an interview with "Squawk Box" co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
- Palantir is said to have more than $15 billion in government contracts, CNBC reported.
As for the ICE work specifically, Karp noted the relationship started under President Obama, adding:
"Obviously there's a lot of legitimate concern about what happens on our border, how it happens, and what does the enforcement look like? It's a legitimate, complex issue. My personal position is we acknowledge the complexity. The people protesting, whom I respect, should also acknowledge that complexity."
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