Private Prisons Poised to Cash In on ICE Detention Center Funding Influx

Private prison companies were expecting the budget bill to be a boon for business. They weren’t disappointed.

Republican lawmakers allocated an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, including $45 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand immigration detention centers over four years. That’s more than the combined funds spent by the Obama, Biden and first Trump administrations, according to a Washington Post analysis.

The industry is clearly one of the big winners from President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law, and no private prison is better positioned to take advantage of the influx of funding than the two biggest contractors, GEO Group and CoreCivic. Individuals and PACs affiliated with those companies also invested millions during the 2024 election cycle in Republican candidates and committees and Trump’s inauguration, and the companies are poised to reap an impressive return on investment.

“Both CoreCivic and GEO are in the best position to assist the government in achieving the goals that they have,” Joe Gomes, a senior generalist equity analyst at Noble Capital Markets who follows both GEO Group and CoreCivic, told NOTUS in a phone interview.

“They already supply the majority of beds for ICE, they both have significant additional capacity that they can bring on, and if you’ve been following it at all, you’ve noticed that both have been getting some new contracts for facilities. And also they have beds at existing facilities under existing contracts that are empty,” Gomes added. “And so, one would believe that, as the money is allocated, that it would be a benefit for both of those firms.”

The influx of funding is expected to nearly double the capacity of immigration detention centers to 100,000. More than 56,000 individuals were held in ICE detention facilities as of mid-June, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center affiliated with Syracuse University, which estimated that 71.7% of detainees have no criminal record.

During the company’s first-quarter earnings call in May, CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said he has “never seen the intensity and activity on ICE’s part to secure capacity” in his 33 years with the company, saying there is “a lot of intensity, for obvious reasons, for ICE to get a lot of beds under contract.”

“We expect additional contracts with ICE to follow budget reconciliation when ICE has a clear line of funding,” Hininger said in his opening remarks. He later described reconciliation as a “catalyst” and anticipated “that most new contracts with ICE will come after funding is established via a congressional budget agreement.”

Ryan Gustin, a CoreCivic spokesperson, told NOTUS in an email that the company “has a long-standing, zero-tolerance policy not to advocate for or against any legislation that serves as the basis for — or determines the duration of — an individual’s detention.”

“CoreCivic does not enforce immigration laws, arrest anyone who may be in violation of immigration laws, or have any say whatsoever in an individual’s deportation or release. CoreCivic also does not know the circumstances of individuals when they are placed in our facilities. Our responsibility is to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to,” Gustin added. He also pointed NOTUS to CoreCivic’s first- quarter earnings call.

GEO Group, the single-largest contractor, told NOTUS in an email that it’s “proud” of the role it has played “to support the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

“Over the last four decades, our innovative support service solutions have helped the federal government implement the policies of seven different Presidential Administrations,” GEO Group wrote.

GEO Group and CoreCivic stocks are up since Trump signed the reconciliation bill into law last Friday. But the bump is nothing compared to the surge they saw after Republicans won Congress and the White House in November.

CoreCivic shares closed at $13.63 on Nov. 5 and hit $24.84 on Nov. 11, while GEO Group closed Election Day at $15.13 and surged to a high of $35.62 in January. CoreCivic closed at $22 on Wednesday, while GEO Group closed at $26.40.

Both companies have a history of spending on politics, but individuals and PACs affiliated with GEO Group and CoreCivic gave more money than ever before during the 2024 election cycle, in which immigration was a core focus.

Individuals and PACs affiliated with the GEO Group contributed $3.7 million to political candidates and committees during the 2024 election cycle, up from nearly $2.8 million during the 2020 election cycle, according to the nonpartisan nonprofit OpenSecrets, which tracks the flow of money in politics. CoreCivic affiliates contributed $784,974, up from $406,615 during the 2020 election cycle.

The vast majority of contributions went to Republican candidates and groups. CoreCivic and GEO Group’s PACs each contributed $500,000 for the Trump inauguration, on par with contributions from PepsiCo, Live Nation and other major corporations seen as ingratiating themselves with the incoming administration.

Gustin, the CoreCivic spokesperson, told NOTUS that the company “welcome[s] the opportunity to support any political leaders who are open to the solutions our company provides to serious national challenges.”

“Our contribution to the inauguration events is consistent with our past practice of civic participation in and support for the inauguration process, including contributions to inauguration activities for both Democrats and Republicans,” he added.

In May, before the budget bill passed, GEO Group CEO J. David Donahue said it was “a unique moment in our company’s history.”

“We believe we are well positioned to meet this unprecedented opportunity and to continue to enhance value for our shareholders,” Donahue added during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Critics call the influx of funding for immigration detention centers unprecedented and warn of a lack of oversight. There have been reports of overcrowding, hunger and illness at facilities, and at least nine people have died in ICE detention since January, NPR reported last month.

“This level of funding for immigration enforcement to house undocumented immigrants who do not pose a public safety threat is without precedent,” Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior director for justice at the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote in a recent analysis of the policy. “This spending spree is particularly troubling given the undoing of the limited immigration detention oversight that existed to ensure humane conditions of confinement.”

GEO Group told NOTUS that it offers support services including “around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs” that are monitored for compliance with ICE detention standards.

“Our contracts also set strict limits on a facility’s capacity. Simply put, our facilities are never overcrowded,” GEO Group wrote.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment from NOTUS.

Both companies faced backlash during the first Trump administration amid public outrage over anti-immigration policies including family separation. In 2019, banking partners including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America cut ties with GEO Group and CoreCivic following pressure from grassroots activists.

GEO Group and CoreCivic were in a “challenging” position at the time, Gomes said, who noted the reputational risk is “baked into” their business models.

“It’s a very controversial topic,” Gomes said. “CoreCivic and GEO might be the poster child, but there are literally many companies that are profiting from the increase here in detention and the Trump focus on removing undocumented immigrants.”