The CEO of the private prison firm CoreCivic told investors on a Thursday call that his company has a value proposition for the federal government: American prison profiteers are less likely to draw legal challenges than foreign alternatives — an apparent reference to the infamous El Salvador prison housing immigrants who were illegally deported from the U.S.
CoreCivic is among the biggest players in the immigration detention business — and they’re looking to capitalize on contracts for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities under President Donald Trump.
Even as the companies celebrated profit opportunities on earnings calls this week, however, pushback is building in communities tapped to host their lockups.
Newark, New Jersey’s mayor rallied protesters outside a newly reactivated facility in his city. Leavenworth, Kansas, sued CoreCivic for reopening a facility there. Leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area are girding themselves for a fight against the use of an Air Force base for deportation. And two House representatives from Florida recently criticized conditions in ICE facilities in their state.
The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation push has spurred an increase in immigration detention. ICE facilities throughout the country are at or over capacity, and the federal government is making desperate attempts to expand its detention network. According to federal contracting documents, the agency wants to spend billions more for immigration detention.
“Unprecedented Opportunity”
The pushback is growing — but so is the Trump administration’s determination to feed the deportation pipeline. A tally by The Intercept shows that, since Trump took office, at least 10 facilities owned or operated by the two largest private prison companies — CoreCivic and GEO Group — have had their contracts created, renewed, or modified to detain immigrants. Other private prison companies and federal contractors have signed contracts for further immigration detention, including an expansion of tent detention facilities.
“These companies are working with ICE to spend money that they haven’t even been given yet.”
On an earnings call Wednesday, GEO Group CEO J. David Donahue sounded a cautious but optimistic note about what is to come under Trump. He said the ongoing budget reconciliation discussions in Congress were a “key element” in how much and how fast ICE can build up its privately run detention capacity.
“The bottom line right now is that private prison companies are waiting with bated breath for Congress to give ICE $45 billion through the reconciliation process,” said Setareh Ghandehari, the advocacy director at Detention Watch Network. “It’s horrific and we’ve been sounding the alarm about this for months — but right now that alarm is blaring and it’s clear how closely these companies are working with ICE to spend money that they haven’t even been given yet.”
Outside of detention, the company hopes to bulk up the number of people covered by an electronic surveillance contract called the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program from a current number of 185,000 to “millions if called upon,” Donahue said.
“This is a unique moment in our company’s history,” he said, “and we believe we are well-positioned to meet this unprecedented opportunity.”
“Ready to Brawl”
On a quarterly earnings call Thursday, CoreCivic executives touted their steps to reopen two separate facilities: one in California City, California, and a facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. What they did not mention was the growing opposition from local officials in Leavenworth.
In late March, the city of Leavenworth filed a lawsuit against CoreCivic to try to prevent its use of one of their facilities to detain immigrants. Despite Leavenworth being surrounded by penitentiaries, the conservative city is concerned about the detention of immigrants at the Midwest Regional Reception Center.
For nearly 30 years, CoreCivic operated the facility, primarily holding pre-trial detainees in the custody of U.S. Marshals. Conditions were so bad that a federal judge called it “an absolute hell hole.” The facility was shuttered in 2021 by the Biden administration when it curtailed the federal government’s use of private prisons.
Under the Trump administration, ICE’s rush to expand detention capacity led to a “letter agreement” with CoreCivic, authorizing the private prison company to begin revamping the Leavenworth facility so they could quickly begin detaining immigrants. This agreement is not a formal contract but covers a six-month period while CoreCivic works to “negotiate and execute a long-term contract,” the company said in a document distributed to shareholders.
In its lawsuit, the city of Leavenworth claims that CoreCivic did not engage with the proper permit process with the city to begin operating the detention center. In the process of making that central claim, the city lawsuit drags CoreCivic and the prior conditions at the facility.
The fight over private immigration detention is playing out along similar lines in New Jersey, as local officials battle the White House. In 2021, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law barring immigration detention in the state. CoreCivic sued — with the Biden administration’s support — and a federal judge ruled in favor of the company. Last week, an appeals court finally heard arguments for the case.
Despite the ongoing litigation, ICE extended a detention center contract to CoreCivic. GEO Group also got in on the action earlier this year, when ICE gave it a contract to run the Delaney Hall facility in Newark. In response, the city of Newark sued GEO Group, in an attempt to stop the facility from opening. The lawsuit is ongoing, with GEO Group saying it’s an attempt by New Jersey officials to “cripple federal immigration enforcement in the state.”
This week, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka joined advocates to protest the proposed GEO Group facility, prompting a company spokesperson to dismiss him as an “open-borders politician.” Immigrant advocates thanked Baraka, who is running for governor.
“Imposing the reopening of a detention center in a city and state that has gone lengths to protect New Jersey communities is a form of federal overreach,” Li Adorno, of the group Movimiento Cosecha New Jersey, said in a statement. “The battle in the courts has begun to spill into Newark’s toxic corridor and the gritty scrappy city is ready to brawl.”
Growth Trends
Even as the local opposition multiplies, private prison executives told investors on two calls this week that they remained certain the second Trump era will be good for them.
To win more contracts, they will have to vie against several alternative options that have been floated by Trump’s inner circle, ranging from proposals for tent cities at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, that is already being used at the invitation of El Salvador’s strongman President Nayib Bukele.
Damon Hininger, the CEO of CoreCivic, told investors Thursday that he thinks his company will win out against alternatives.
“Private sector beds are the least likely to be legally challenged, particularly relative to some international options,” he said.
Still, company officials made clear that they are hedging their bets. Executives on a Thursday quarterly earnings call said they were ready to partner with the government should it follow through with a scheme to hold immigrants on U.S. military bases across the country, even if it involved a more limited role as a transportation contractor.
“We’ve got the capability to provide something very quickly that they’re anticipating on some of these military reservations,” Hininger said.
The company is also deploying resources nationwide to closed facilities for general upkeep for further ICE expansion, with company executives interested in pitching their facilities in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
The past few years have provided many opportunities for private prison companies — including under the Biden administration. During President Joe Biden’s last year in office, his administration extended at least 14 ICE jail contracts with private prison companies and sought options to expand the immigration detention network.
With company executives predicting more contracts to come this week, immigrant rights activists decried the celebration of profits from immigration detention.
Ghandehari, the Detention Watch Network official, said, “It’s frankly disturbing to hear people so giddy about making money off of the caging and abuse of their fellow human beings.”
#Deal #CECOT
