WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has agreed to pay US$950mil to buy three California immigration detention facilities from GEO Group Inc, part of a broader push to give the federal government more direct control over the infrastructure behind its mass deportation campaign.
The deal covers three adjacent facilities in Adelanto, in southern California, with more than 2,600 beds combined.
GEO will continue to operate the facilities under an existing contract that runs through December 2034, the company said on Monday.
“We are pleased with the completion of these important asset sales to the US federal government, and we look forward to continuing to provide high-quality secure support services under our existing long-term contracts with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” GEO chief executive officer, George C. Zoley, said in a statement.
ICE has long relied on private prison companies and local governments for much of the space used to hold immigrants awaiting deportation or the outcome of court proceedings.
Under the Trump administration, the agency is now buying more of those facilities itself while continuing to contract with private companies to operate them.
Earlier this year, ICE paid about US$1.5bil for two detention facilities, including a nearly 2,000-bed facility near San Diego, owned by CoreCivic, which has continued operating the facilities after the sale.
Both CoreCivic and GEO have said they’re discussing the possible sale of additional properties to the government.
Agency officials have told the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, that owning detention centres gives ICE more control over capacity and can help secure space in parts of the country where it expects to need it.
ICE has also pursued other ways to expand capacity as the Trump administration increases immigration arrests.
The agency spent about US$1bil to buy 11 warehouses around the country that it planned to convert into detention centres, according to the GAO. The agency later decided to sell at least seven of the properties.
The GAO found that ICE has been moving ahead without first developing a comprehensive plan for how many beds it needed, where they should be located or how the costs of different approaches compared over time.
“ICE’s purchase of existing detention facilities has the potential to result in waste,” according to the GAO report.
“While officials told us that they considered risks, such as environmental liabilities and site history for the facilities they identified for potential purchase, ICE has not assessed the long-term affordability of owning these facilities.”
Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, ICE has arrested more than 650,000 people, according to agency data.
As of mid-July, the latest government data available, the administration had separately deported roughly 600,000 people.
“Every day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe.
“It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the United States and ensuring we have resources to carry out President Trump’s mission,” DHS said in an emailed response to questions.
The growth has intensified scrutiny of conditions inside immigration detention facilities.
Civil rights groups and former detainees have repeatedly raised concerns in lawsuits and government reports about medical care, safety and treatment at facilities around the country, including in Adelanto.
GEO, CoreCivic and other operators have repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing or mistreatment. — Bloomberg
