Mass Deportations Could Get an Unexpected Head Start Thanks to Biden's Permissive Stance on Private Prisons

Private prison stock soared on November 11 after president-elect Donald Trump appointed Thomas Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as his upcoming "border czar."

In all, shares of The Geo Group rose over 6%, and those of CoreCivic climbed nearly 8%, fueled by investor expectations of increased demand for detention services and stricter immigration enforcement under Trump's upcoming administration.

In an earnings call that same week, GEO Group Executive Chairman George Zoley said the company "was built for this unique moment in our company's — country's history and the opportunity that it will bring." The company's CEO, Brian Evans, even noted a "theoretical potential doubling" of the company's services under the new administration's policy.

But perhaps lost in all the commotion over expected mass deportations is the fact that, as a new in-depth piece by The Guardian revealed on Thursday, president Joe Biden's administration has been extending contracts for private immigration detention centers and exploring expanded detention capacity, providing a potential infrastructure for Trump's immigration plans, even though Biden had previously pledged during the 2020 campaign to end the use of privately run detention facilities.

The new investigation has revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is negotiating at least 14 contracts with private prison companies, despite widespread opposition from advocacy groups, congressional Democrats, and watchdog organizations. ICE has also sought to expand detention capacity by adding nearly 4,850 new beds in facilities across the country, including in Arizona, Texas, and California.

"The Biden administration has increased the number of people in detention, doubled down on anti-immigrant, Trump-era deterrence policies, and expanded detention capacity in direct conflict with its own promises to end for-profit incarceration and bring fairness to the immigration system," said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network to The Guardian.

The facilities, which were exposed in a report by the ACLU of Northern California in August, have garnered notoriety for the extensive record of inhumane conditions that immigrants face inside, which include hazardous living conditions, medical neglect, harassment, sleep deprivation, abuse of solitary confinement, and sexual assault.

In fact, a recent letter signed by nearly 200 organizations urged the Biden administration to close detention centers and demanded that all ongoing contracts with private prison companies and other organizations be frozen. They also recommended Biden work with the Congress to reduce funding for immigration detention.

"Biden now has a last chance to take decisive action to prevent catastrophe for millions of people and avoid handing the keys to an expanded and inhumane detention and deportation system to the next administration," said the aforementioned Shah.

During his campaign, Biden promised to shift away from Trump-era hardline immigration policies, stating that "no business should profit from the suffering of desperate people fleeing violence." However, the administration has pursued expanded detention and stricter asylum policies, reflecting a rightward shift, especially as immigration became a central issue in the 2024 election cycle.

Biden's push is already "the greatest level of procurement activity we've seen with ICE in over a decade, demonstrating the continued need for additional detention solutions in various locations throughout the US", said Damon Hininger, the president and CEO of private contractor CoreCivic, during a post-election call with investors.

"It's really just a step backwards," Esmeralda Santos, a lead organizer with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice told The Guardian adding that "we're seeing Biden replicate some of the policies Trump was interested in and it's really discouraging to see that. I thought we could have more faith in Biden. He let us down, honestly."