Key Takeaways
- The Trump administration’s new plan involves a significant expansion of immigrant detention centers, targeting major cities with high migrant populations.
- The family detention policy, which involves holding parents with children together, is expected to be reinstated, despite previous criticism and its cessation under Biden.
- Private prison companies, such as GEO Group and CoreCivic, are preparing for an increase in detainees, with their stock prices rising sharply following Trump’s announcements.
The Trump administration, preparing for a potential return to power, has announced plans for a massive expansion of immigrant detention centers across the United States. The initiative includes a doubling of the deportation detention facilities, which currently accommodate about 41,000 individuals as per Congressional allocation. The goal is to hold immigrants detained within the U.S. in these centers while awaiting deportation.
A significant aspect of this new strategy is the reinstatement of family detention policies, allowing parents to be detained with their children. This policy, ended by the Biden administration in 2021, has faced strong criticism from human rights groups. Trump’s team is assessing the potential for reopening previously closed centers and creating temporary facilities in areas with high migrant concentrations, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.
Target areas for these new centers include major cities with large migrant populations like Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. Despite sanctuary policies, these cities are not expected to prevent ICE’s operations and detention expansions.
Private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic, both of which have seen their stocks rise sharply (69% and 61% respectively), are preparing to provide additional resources. GEO Group’s executive chairman, George Zoley, remarked that the company was “built for this moment,” while CoreCivic has up to 18,000 vacant beds available to meet expected demand.
This initiative marks a significant step in Trump’s promise for “the largest deportation operation in American history,” though experts question its feasibility given limited resources and potential resistance from countries required to accept deportees.
