Private Prison CEO on ICE Contracts: We’re a Better Deal Than El Salvador’s CECOT

The CEO of the private prison firm CoreCivic advised investors on a Thursday call that his company has a value proposition for the federal regime American prison profiteers are less likely to draw legal challenges than foreign alternatives an apparent reference to the infamous El Salvador prison housing immigrants who were illegally deported from the U S CoreCivic is among the biggest players in the immigration detention business and they re looking to capitalize on contracts for U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities under President Donald Trump Even as the companies celebrated profit opportunities on earnings calls this week however pushback is building in communities tapped to host their lockups Newark New Jersey s mayor rallied protesters outside a newly reactivated facility in his city Leavenworth Kansas sued CoreCivic for reopening a facility there Leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area are girding themselves for a fight against the use of an Air Force base for deportation And two House representatives from Florida in the last few days criticized conditions in ICE facilities in their state The Trump administration s aggressive deportation push has spurred an increase in immigration detention ICE facilities throughout the country are at or over limit and the federal ruling body is making desperate attempts to expand its detention grid According to federal contracting documents the agency wants to spend billions more for immigration detention Unprecedented Opportunity The pushback is growing but so is the Trump administration s determination to feed the deportation pipeline A tally by The Intercept shows that since Trump took office at least facilities owned or operated by the two largest private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group have had their contracts created renewed or modified to detain immigrants Other private prison companies and federal contractors have signed contracts for further immigration detention including an expansion of tent detention facilities These companies are working with ICE to spend money that they haven t even been given yet On an earnings call Wednesday GEO Group CEO J David Donahue sounded a cautious but optimistic note about what is to come under Trump He explained the ongoing budget reconciliation discussions in Congress were a key element in how much and how fast ICE can build up its privately run detention ceiling The bottom line right now is that private prison companies are waiting with bated breath for Congress to give ICE billion through the reconciliation process announced Setareh Ghandehari the advocacy director at Detention Watch Setup It s horrific and we ve been sounding the alarm about this for months but right now that alarm is blaring and it s clear how closely these companies are working with ICE to spend money that they haven t even been given yet Outside of detention the company hopes to bulk up the number of people covered by an electronic surveillance contract called the Intensive Supervision Appearance Initiative from a current number of to millions if called upon Donahue revealed This is a unique moment in our company s history he revealed and we believe we are well-positioned to meet this unprecedented opportunity Ready to Brawl On a quarterly earnings call Thursday CoreCivic executives touted their strategies to reopen two separate facilities one in California City California and a facility in Leavenworth Kansas What they did not mention was the growing opposition from local executives in Leavenworth In late March the city of Leavenworth filed a lawsuit against CoreCivic to try to prevent its use of one of their facilities to detain immigrants Despite Leavenworth being surrounded by penitentiaries the conservative city is concerned about the detention of immigrants at the Midwest Regional Reception Center For nearly years CoreCivic operated the facility primarily holding pre-trial detainees in the custody of U S Marshals Conditions were so bad that a federal judge called it an absolute hell hole The facility was shuttered in by the Biden administration when it curtailed the federal administration s use of private prisons Under the Trump administration ICE s rush to expand detention maximum led to a letter agreement with CoreCivic authorizing the private prison company to begin revamping the Leavenworth facility so they could rapidly begin detaining immigrants This agreement is not a formal contract but covers a six-month period while CoreCivic works to negotiate and execute a long-term contract the company disclosed in a document distributed to shareholders In its lawsuit the city of Leavenworth states that CoreCivic did not engage with the proper permit process with the city to begin operating the detention center In the process of making that central claim the city lawsuit drags CoreCivic and the prior conditions at the facility Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants The fight over private immigration detention is playing out along similar lines in New Jersey as local administrators battle the White House In New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy signed a law barring immigration detention in the state CoreCivic sued with the Biden administration s help and a federal judge ruled in favor of the company Last week an appeals court eventually heard arguments for the development Related Denver s City Council Led by Democratic Socialist Stuns For-Profit Prison Operators by Nuking Contracts Despite the ongoing litigation ICE extended a detention center contract to CoreCivic GEO Group also got in on the action earlier this year when ICE gave it a contract to run the Delaney Hall facility in Newark In response the city of Newark sued GEO Group in an attempt to stop the facility from opening The lawsuit is ongoing with GEO Group saying it s an attempt by New Jersey bureaucrats to cripple federal immigration enforcement in the state This week Newark Mayor Ras Baraka joined advocates to protest the proposed GEO Group facility prompting a company spokesperson to dismiss him as an open-borders politician Immigrant advocates thanked Baraka who is running for governor Imposing the reopening of a detention center in a city and state that has gone lengths to protect New Jersey communities is a form of federal overreach Li Adorno of the group Movimiento Cosecha New Jersey declared in a message The battle in the courts has begun to spill into Newark s toxic corridor and the gritty scrappy city is ready to brawl Development Trends Even as the local opposition multiplies private prison executives recounted investors on two calls this week that they remained certain the second Trump era will be good for them To win more contracts they will have to vie against several alternative options that have been floated by Trump s inner circle ranging from proposals for tent cities at the U S military base at Guant namo Bay to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center known as CECOT that is already being used at the invitation of El Salvador s strongman President Nayib Bukele Damon Hininger the CEO of CoreCivic described investors Thursday that he thinks his company will win out against alternatives Private sector beds are the least likely to be legally challenged particularly relative to specific international options he reported Still company representatives made clear that they are hedging their bets Executives on a Thursday quarterly earnings call announced they were ready to partner with the establishment should it follow through with a scheme to hold immigrants on U S military bases across the country even if it involved a more limited role as a transportation contractor We ve got the capability to provide something very hastily that they re anticipating on various of these military reservations Hininger noted The company is also deploying materials nationwide to closed facilities for general upkeep for further ICE expansion with company executives interested in pitching their facilities in Colorado Oklahoma and Tennessee The past limited years have provided a multitude of opportunities for private prison companies including under the Biden administration During President Joe Biden s last year in office his administration extended at least ICE jail contracts with private prison companies and sought options to expand the immigration detention organization With company executives predicting more contracts to come this week immigrant rights activists decried the celebration of profits from immigration detention Ghandehari the Detention Watch Arrangement official noted It s frankly disturbing to hear people so giddy about making money off of the caging and abuse of their fellow human beings The post Private Prison CEO on ICE Contracts We re a Better Deal Than El Salvador s CECOT appeared first on The Intercept