Immigration - the Billion-Dollar Bounty
After finishing up a few long summaries on the "Big Beautiful Bill" and the Homeland Security chapter on Project 2025, the financial and human-rights-violation patterns were clear: the U.S. federal government has a huge stake in the number of immigrants detained on American soil. They market it like it’s a bad thing: stop stealing our jobs, raping our women, and just go home already. But the truth is, if we didn't have an active illegal immigration detention system we'd lose a lot of cash, and quick.
So I started looking at how many migrant detention centers we have here in the U.S. and I'm not sure I even scratched the surface. But I found two types: for-profit and government-run. The government-run prisons are generally county correctional facilities and jails, sheriff's offices, things like that. But on the flipside you have for-profit detention centers, and I don't think any of us realize how much they're making on the bounty of migrant men, women, and children.
The are many different private companies that invest in prisons and detention centers in the U.S., but there are four that own the bulk of immigration facilities. They are as follows:
The Geo Group, Inc. from Boca Raton, Florida
CoreCivic, Inc. from Nashville, Tennessee
Management and Training Corporation (MTC) from Centerville, Utah
LaSalle Corrections, based in the South
These four companies own both processing and detention centers, which vary depending on length of stay, level of security, and where migrants are in the deportation process. But when you add up the total numbers of migrants and dollars, pre "Big Beautiful Bill" and all of Donald Trump's plans for $81 billion in detention centers and shiny new ICE vehicles, it's pretty astounding. So let's break it down and see where our tax dollars are going, if not for healthcare, food stamps, public schools, and the general well-being of United States residents.
Note: these numbers are on the conservative end of things, especially pertaining to ICE facility beds. I'm listing the capacity for each facility, but in truth they can be almost double.
MTC has four facilities in Calexico, California; and Anson, Raymondville, and Livingston, Texas. With a total of 3,754 beds and a rate of $126.68/person/day for up to 500 detainees, $89.76 for up to 825, and $31.12 for everyone else, this one company is making $358,846.48/day at capacity and $130,978,965.20/year. But again, they can be at as much as twice the capacity in any of these facilities.
“This massive expansion of ICE detention facilities betrays Louisiana’s commitment to decarceration and exposes thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers to brutal and inhumane conditions.” - Alanah Odoms Hebert, ACLU of Louisiana
LaSalle Corrections has eight facilities in San Luis, Arizona; Harrisonburg, Jonesboro, Monroe, Ferriday, and Winnfield, Louisiana; and Alvarado and Haskell, Texas. With a total of 5,129 beds and a rate of, on average, $75/person/day, LaSalle is making $385,675/day, and $140,406,375/year.
CoreCivic has 19 facilities in Eloy and Florence (x2), Arizona; California City and San Diego, California; Lumpkin, Georgia; Leavenworth, Texas; Natchez, Mississippi; Pahrump, Nevada; Elizabeth, NJ; Milan and Estancia, New Mexico; Youngstown, Ohio; and Laredo (x2), Eden, Houston, Dilley, and Taylor, Texas. With a total of 21,155 beds and a rate of, on average, $150/person/day, CoreCivic is making $3,173,250/day, and $1,158,236,250/year (at capacity).
The GEO Group, Inc. has 29 facilities in Adelanto (x2), McFarland (x2), and Bakersfield, California; Aurora, Colorado; Pompano Beach, Florida; Folkston (x2), Georgia; Ullin, Illinois; Jena, Pine Prairie, Basile, Louisiana; Baldwin, Michigan; Newark, New Jersey; Philipsburg, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Robstown, Big Spring, East Hidalgo, Pearsall (x2), Beaumont, Conroe (x2), Karnes City, Laredo, and Del Rio, Texas; and Tacoma, Washington. With a grand total of 28,636 beds and a rate of, on average, $95/person/day, the GEO Group, Inc. is making $2,720,420/day and $992,953,300/year. But with reports as high as $130/bed this could increase to a whopping $1,358,778,200 per year at their facilities.
Important to note here that ICE facilities are also paid for empty beds.
Okay, that was a lot of numbers.
But big picture: this is only 58,674 migrants beds we're talking about here, and they add up to almost $3 billion. Now, of course one person isn't likely to stay in a detention camp for 365 days, and this represents quite a few people being swapped out, but you have to consider that the current administration is making it their goal to go after 11 million undocumented migrants. That doesn't even include Green Card holders, student visas, work visas, temporary work visas, naturalized citizens, birthright citizens, Dreamers, and everyone else Trump claims to be coming after. It's less than 100,000 migrants making private companies billions of dollars a year.
And why? What's in it for the Trump Administration?
Well, cronyism of course, nepotism, favoritism, the old-boy network, call it what you want. But in the last election The GEO Group maxed out their campaign contributions at $1 million to the Trump campaign. A subsidiary company, GEO Acquisition II, also gave $1 million to the pro-Trump political action committee (PAC) "Make America Great Again." The GEO Group's PAC had previously donated $250 million to Trump's 2016 campaign, and in 2017 held its annual conference at Trump National Doral Miami, one of his many golf courses. In 2019 Attorney General Pam Bondi was a lobbyist for the company.
CoreCivic also contributed $250,000 to Trump's first campaign, and gave $500,000 to the 2025 Presidential Inauguration.
Stock prices for both the GEO Group and CoreCivic skyrocketed immediately after Trump's November 2024 victory.
But as mentioned, these facility numbers don't even scratch the surface of the detention and processing centers we have now, let alone what is planned as a result of an $81 billion ICE budget in the "Big Beautiful Bill." This doesn't mention that most of these adult facilities now incorporated children, including Guantanamo Bay, and including "Alligator Alcatraz." This doesn't include temporary facilities, ICE-run facilities, federal facilities, the thousands and thousands of beds that equal billions of dollars for political action committees pouring their funds back into the Trump Administration.
"Private prison corporations' perverse incentive to profit off of the prolonged imprisonment of Black, brown, and Indigenous immigrants is foundational to the immigration detention system. In fact, in the 1980's, the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic), successfully lobbied the government to expand detention and other forms of incarceration." -freedomforimmigrants.org
Currently there are over 200 migrant prisons and jails in the United States, many with active human-rights violations, overcrowding, and no accountability. The "Big Beautiful" plans to double the capacity to house undocumented migrant families over the next two years. Southern states like Texas and Louisiana house the most migrants per day at over 14,000 (2023), and according to ICE, 90% of all detained immigrants are housed in private prisons. This will only increase with the building of new prisons.
"Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right now." - Damon T. Hininger, CoreCivic CEO
For more information about the private prison system that works side-by-side with Donald Trump and ICE, visit
Freedom for Immigrants
And if you want to help, visit
The National Immigrant Justice Center
Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City.
Thank you. I turned off the television. Listening to Gordon Light Foot.
Thank you.