An executive said the plan could mean a"potential sea change" for the industry.Trump taps Noem for DHS secretary, Musk to lead new departmentAs the government and law enforcement brace for the sweeping ramifications of President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to deport what could be millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States, another stakeholder appears poised to cash in on the complex logistics that would be required: the powerful private prison industry.
"The Geo Group was built for this unique moment in our history and the opportunities that it will bring," Zoley said.The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has for years relied on private companies to house detained migrants, making it a multimillion-dollar business. That industry is expected to grow under Trump and his newly tapped border czar, Tom Homan, who has embraced Trump's promise to undertake mass deportations on "Day 1" of the new administration.
The two largest private prison companies -- Geo Group and CoreCivic -- saw their stocks surge after the election last week. For years, many Democratic lawmakers have called for an end to the federal government's use of private prisons due to what they say is inadequate oversight in private facilities that results in underreported health and safety violations. In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in May, Sen.
Homan, himself a former ICE director, has fiercely defended the use of private facilities to house ICE detainees, arguing they allow "higher quality and lower cost than the government can provide."