In 2025, two of the biggest contractors for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in building and managing detention centers achieved record revenue. This is because the companies are expanding their facilities across the nation to accommodate more immigrants apprehended by the Trump Administration.

The GEO Group, which operates 19 facilities for ICE across the country, reported a total revenue of $2.6 billion in 2025, a 6% increase from the $2.43 billion in 2024. CoreCivic, which owns and operates at least ten ICE detention facilities, reported a total revenue of $2.2 billion in 2025, a 13% increase from the $1.96 billion in 2024.

During their earnings calls, both companies praised the rapid expansion of their facilities, considering it a “significant growth opportunity.” They also stated that they are working to reactivate facilities that were previously phased out under the Biden Administration to meet ICE’s growing detention needs. The two companies have informed ICE that together, they can hold an additional 19,000 people if necessary.

When asked by a caller about his view of the current rate of ICE detentions – with fewer than 100,000 immigrants being detained per day, which the caller described as “lower than what investors expected” – CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle reassured investors that the immigration crackdown will intensify.

“When looking at how ICE conducts enforcement actions, nothing happens immediately,” Swindle said. “So, when considering the timing, it takes time because it is a very complex system, and as this system grows, it will lead to an increased demand for beds.”

In addition to the expansion of its immigrant detention facilities, the GEO Group also witnessed an increase in ICE’s use of its surveillance devices, which the agency uses to monitor some immigrants as an alternative to detention. During the call, incoming GEO Group CEO George Zoley said that the number of participants wearing GPS ankle monitors has increased from approximately 17,000 in early 2025 to over 42,000 currently.

According to Zoley, ICE is currently holding around 70,000 immigrants in 225 separate jails or detention centers, nearly the same as the number of immigrants detained and the number of available facilities from last year.

The Washington Post reported that, thanks to an unprecedented $45 billion budget approved by Congress, ICE plans to expand immigrant detention to areas of the country where there are currently none, while also building new detention facilities in populous states such as California and Texas. The plan would double the agency’s number of large-scale, mega-detention centers – the kind contracted out to the GEO Group and CoreCivic – and also build makeshift “soft-sided” structures that can be erected in a few weeks.

One of the plans ICE is pursuing in its effort to build large detention facilities is to acquire warehouses and convert them into jails, despite opposition in local communities. The GEO Group said it is “cautiously participating in this process,” despite having little experience in renovating warehouses.

“We’ve only had one experience renovating a warehouse, and that was about 30 years ago. So, it’s more complicated than you might think,” Zoley said during the earnings call.

“As a 40-year partner of ICE, we expect to be part of the solution,” he added.

According to data from TRAC Immigration, for-profit detention centers hold the vast majority of immigrants detained by ICE. They have also been the site of most of the fatalities in federal immigrant detention in recent months: Of the 38 people who died in ICE custody from January 2025 to now, 71 percent were held in for-profit facilities, according to a report by independent journalist Andrew Free.