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Private prisons see record revenue growth

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Two of the nation's biggest operators of private immigrant detention centers recently announced major revenue growth.

One of those companies is GEO Group, with 6,000 beds at their immigration detention centers around the country. This includes Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where a congresswoman's clash with ICE agents led to her arrest in the spring.

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Private prisons see record revenue growth

GEO Group's third quarter update shows revenues increasing 13%, fueled by contracts with ICE, helping to give investors a banner 2025.

"This represents the largest amount of new business that we have won in a single year in our company's history," said George Zoley, CEO of GEO Group.

The other major operator of private jails is CoreCivic. Earlier this year Scripps News visited a CoreCivic jail in Kansas that is ramping up operations to eventually begin housing immigrants.

But the company has other detention centers already open, leading to a jump in revenue of 18% last quarter. The company's earnings have sharply increased since 2020.

With the Trump administation aiming to detain thousands more immigrants, both companies see room to bring in even more money from the deportation push.

"When you look at the growth that we're expecting for 2026 it's one of the fastest growth years, year over year, that we've experienced in a very long time as a company," said Patrick Swindle, President of CoreCivic.

Still, stocks in both companies actually dropped, as investors perhaps questioned how much they rely on ICE to grow their bottom lines in the future.