MAY JUNE 2018 | MOTHER JONES 11CLINTON PHOTO: RON EDMONDSAP; TRUMP PHOTO: CAROLYN KASTERAP; SILHOUETTES: RAWPIXELGETTY
58% of detainees
have no criminal
record.1996
President Bill Clinton signs
legislation expanding man-
datory immigration detention.2004
The Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act ramps up im-
migration detention capacity by
32,000 beds.2010
Congress sets a quota for
the number of immigration
detention beds.2012
geo Group, the nation’s larg-
est prison company, hires a
senior executive who was previously
assistant director of enforcement
and removal for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.2014
Corrections Corporation of
America (now CoreCivic) says
its new South Texas Family Residential
Center will provide 14 percent of total
company revenue. Immigrant advo-
cates brand it a “baby jail.”2016
After the Obama Justice
Department says it will cease
contracting with private prisons, a
Department of Homeland Security
council votes to stop using private
facilities to detain immigrants.A geo Group subsidiary gives
$225,000 to a pro-Trump super-pac.
geo Group and CoreCivic each
donate $250,000 to President Donald
Trump’s inauguration fund.2017
The Trump administration
says it will continue to
work with private prisons.geo Group and CoreCivic
spend $2.6 million on federal
lobbying.The immigration court backlog swells
to more than 650,000 cases before
292 judges.In the past 15 years,
immigration-related
apprehensions have
gone down. Yet
detaining immigrants
is on the rise—and
a big increase is
expected this year.More than 300,000 people are put into immigration
detention annually. Nearly three-fourths are held in
privately run facilities. (Just 9 percent of state and
federal prisoners are held in for-profi t facilities.)GIVE ME YOUR TIRED,
YOUR POOR, YOUR PER DIEM
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is
shaping up as a boom time for the private prison industry.
BY MADISON PAULY$
PER DAY
Maximum cost of
holding an immigration
detainee in a for-profi t
adult facility$
PER DAY
Cost of holding an
immigration detainee in
a local jail$
PER DAY
Cost of putting someone
awaiting an immigration
hearing in an alternative-
to-detention program$
PER DAY
Wage paid to detainees
in for-profi t facilities
who do work such as
cleaning and cookingThe Department of Homeland Security
expects to hold 35 percent more detainees
in 2018 than it did last year, at a total cost of$2.7 billion
91%
IMMIGRATION
DETENTION
POPULATIONIMMIGRATION
ARRESTS57%
10%13%CoreCivic
geo GroupShare of company revenue coming
from immigration detention,
2007 vs. 2017
25%
23%For every 100 immigration detainees in the United States32 are in geo Group facilities21 are in other private facilities26 are in public jails21 are in CoreCivic facilities74 are in
privately run
facilities