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The incoming Trump administration is considering locations and consulting with private prison companies for a major expansion of immigration detention centers to hold immigrants before deportation as part of President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation plan. Two people familiar with the plan told NBC News.
The goal is to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds (41,000 currently allocated by Congress) to temporarily hold the large number of immigrants awaiting deportation after being apprehended in the United States. It is said that the goal is to double the amount.
The plan also includes reviving a policy of detaining parents with children, known as “family detention,” which immigration advocates criticized and the Biden administration ended in 2021, the officials said. said.
Those working on the plan with the Trump transition team are considering available space in county jails, assessing areas where temporary facilities may be needed to hold immigrants as part of deportations, and considering the Biden administration’s is assessing which of its closed facilities may be reopened.
President Trump’s transition team is considering how many immigrants each region, including Democratic-controlled metropolitan areas across the country, can accept. A person familiar with the plan said it would prioritize areas with large immigrant populations without detention facilities, rather than identifying Democratic strongholds.
Cities with large immigrant populations, such as Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago, may need to build additional detention centers nearby to house apprehended immigrants. The administration may need to reopen, expand or build new facilities in the Northeast that hold migrants apprehended in New York City, Philadelphia and the Washington area, the official said.
Another person familiar with the plan said Democratic City’s so-called sanctuary policy should not prevent ICE from expanding its detention there.
Details of the plan open the door to what President Trump has promised is the “largest deportation operation in U.S. history.” Critics of the plan say he lacks the money, personnel, willingness of countries to take back migrants, flights and detention space to make it a reality.
Transition team spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement: “The American people re-elected President Trump by a wide margin and gave him a mandate to deliver on the promises he made during his campaign. He will deliver.”
Shares of two of the industry’s largest publicly traded companies, GEO Group and CoreCivic, rose. GEO Group and CoreCivic are both publicly traded, and their shares have risen 69% and 61%, respectively, since Trump’s election victory.
During Thursday’s earnings call, GEO Group Executive Chairman George Zory said the company was “founded for this unique moment in our company’s history and the opportunities it will bring.”
“In theory, we’re looking at the possibility of doubling all of our services,” GEO Group CEO Brian Evans said on a conference call.
CEO Damon Hininger said on CoreCivic’s recent earnings call that the company already has additional available beds in its system for post-election demand.
“So we are taking proactive steps and working on a plan to activate and utilize all the beds we have in-house. Again, that number is approximately 18,000 beds.” said Hininger.
Trump Appointments and Candidates
Here are some of the people President-elect Donald Trump has appointed to key positions within his administration. Orange positions require Senate confirmation.
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
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