Inside the $600 million boom: How US private prisons are profiting financially from Trump’s immigration policies

When Donald Trump returned to the presidency this January, he vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history. Ten months later, that promise is reshaping America’s immigration system—and enriching the corporations that run it.

According to Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), more than two million immigrants have either been deported or have “self-deported” since Trump took office. Federal detention centers are now filled to capacity.

“Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day,” McLaughlin said. “And is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you.”

Private prisons profit from Trump’s immigration crackdown

The surge in arrests has turned out to be a financial windfall for the country’s largest private prison operators, Geo Group and CoreCivic. Both companies, which have long-term contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have seen their profits soar since Trump’s return to the White House.

A recent report from El Nuevo Herald, a Miami-based newspaper, reveals that ICE’s budget includes $30 billion in existing funding and an additional $45 billion earmarked for building new detention centers for both adults and minors—a massive expansion that directly benefits these two corporations.

In the second quarter of this year, Geo Group reported $636.2 million in revenue, up from $607.2 million the same period last year—a rise the company’s CEO called “significant progress.” The firm now projects next-quarter earnings between $650 and $660 million.

CoreCivic also posted major gains, bringing in $538.2 million, roughly 10% higher than last year’s second quarter.

“Profiting from human suffering”

For activists, the numbers tell a grim story.

“What they are doing is appalling,” said Paolo Almirón, media coordinator for Resistencia en Acción Nueva Jersey, an immigrant rights group. “There is no other way to describe profiting from human suffering.”

Immigrant rights advocates have long accused private prison firms of exploiting tougher immigration laws to line their pockets. Under Trump’s renewed deportation push, those accusations are gaining new traction.

What comes next for CoreCivic and Geo Group

Both companies are set to release their next earnings reports in early November—CoreCivic on November 5, and Geo Group the following day. Investors are watching closely, as continued deportation sweeps and expanded ICE contracts could make this one of the most lucrative periods in the private prison industry’s history.

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