One of the campaign promises President-elect Donald Trump made ahead of his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last month was to carry out the “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
According to a Sunday, December 22 Wall Street Journal report, the private prison industry is preparing to benefit greatly from the move — if Trump is able to accomplish it.
“Private prisons and other companies that provide detention services are getting ready to cash in on” the initiative, which “includes scouring for as many detention beds as possible in their networks of facilities, and scouting sites for new buildings to house migrants,” the WSJ reports.
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Per the report, George Zoley, who serves as executive chairman of the private prison company, GEO group, told investors soon after the election, “This is, to us, an unprecedented opportunity.”
The company, the WSJ notes, “which currently houses about 40% of ICE detainees, is looking at a potential doubling of all its services, Zoley said on the call.”
GEO Chief Executive Officer Wayne Calabrese told the newspaper, “We have assured ICE of our capability to rapidly scale up to monitor and oversee several hundreds of thousands, or even several millions, of individuals.”
WSJ reports:
CoreCivic, the other major player in ICE detention centers, had a similar message for investors after the election. The company believes it could quickly bring its detention capacity to 25,000 beds by bringing unused ones online, including at a facility previously used to hold families in Dilley, Texas, CEO Damon Hininger said in an interview. The Biden administration chose to close the site earlier this year, but CoreCivic kept it in ‘warm status,’ Hininger said.
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Hininger, according to WSJ, said “in addition to identifying already-existing beds it could open, CoreCivic is also exploring adding new buildings or temporary facilities on land it already owns.”
WSJ also notes, “To bolster its ties to the incoming administration, GEO Group recently hired a Trump-connected lobbying firm called Continental Strategy LLC, according to federal lobbying disclosures. The Florida firm is run by Carlos Trujillo, who advised Trump on Latino voters and immigration issues during the campaign. It also employs Katie Wiles, daughter of Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles.”
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The Wall Street Journal’s full report is available here (subscription required).
