America's private prison complex gears up for Trump deportation bonanza

Smaller cos involved in federal immigration detentions are also preparing to ramp up

- ELIZABETH FINDELL, TAWNELL D. HOBBS AND TARINI PARTI

Private prisons and other companies that provide detention services are getting ready to cash in on what President-elect Donald Trump has billed as "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history." That includes scouring for as many detention beds as possible in their networks of facilities, and scouting sites for new buildings to house migrants.

Some executives are considering whether to take up the controversial work of detaining families or unaccompanied children. Others are preparing to hire new staff and snapping up well-connected lobbyists.

"This is, to us, an unprecedented opportunity," George Zoley, executive chairman of the GEO Group, a private prison company, told investors on an earnings call days after the election.

Pulling off a deportation on the scale Trump has promised would constitute an unprecedented logistical feat for the U.S. government, involving identifying, locating, arresting, detaining, adjudicating and transporting potentially millions of men, women, and children.

The actual scope of Trump's plans remains unclear. He repeatedly promised mass deportations during his first term in office. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported about 935,000 people who had been living in the U.S. illegally under his administration, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute—fewer than Obama. The Biden administration, which deported relatively few people in its first year, deported more than 271,000 in fiscal year 2024—a 10-year record—according to newly released figures from ICE. The administration deported some 545,000 over its four years.