Profits Over People – The Business of Deportation

06/12/2025

The U.S. immigration system isn’t broken. It’s functioning exactly as designed—for profit.

The public’s been fed a narrative of “law and order,” of detaining “illegals,” and “protecting borders.” People are not “illegal.” But the systems built to detain, deport, and exploit them? Very legal — and very profitable. It’s a cash machine. A network of corporations, investment firms, defense contractors, airlines, and data brokers are raking in billions off the backs of undocumented immigrants—through detention, surveillance, deportation, and even forced labor.

From ankle monitors to prison food trays, private jets to detention beds, a web of corporations are making billions off the backs of undocumented immigrants. And it’s not just a few bad apples — this is a full-blown economy. One where human suffering is monetized, dehumanized, and turned into dividends.

ICE raids have exploded in major cities. Federal agents are detaining people at workplaces, outside schools, and during routine check-ins—often without legal representation or due process. Entire neighborhoods are going silent in fear. And while the country debates legality, these corporations are counting receipts.

What’s Happening Now: Illegal Deportations for Profit

It’s not just detention—it’s disappearance.

Under Trump’s latest executive orders, ICE has begun fast-track deportations, many of which violate international asylum laws, constitutional due process, and even internal DHS protocol. People are being deported within days, sometimes hours, without legal counsel or a court hearing. Why? Because it’s cheaper, faster—and more profitable—for the corporations running the show.

Private contractors get paid for each body moved, each flight filled, each ankle bracelet strapped, each call charged at $0.40/minute. And in this profit-driven model, undocumented immigrants are products, not people.

The raids aren’t about national security. They’re about maintaining a billion-dollar pipeline.

We’re talking about:

• Private prisons getting paid per detainee, per day

• Tech companies building digital cages

• Airlines profiting from deportation flights

• Telecom giants charging $5+ per call to desperate detainees

• Billionaire investors like BlackRock and Vanguard raking in passive income from all of the above

And yes — ICE knows. Congress knows. Investors know. They just don’t care. Because the more raids, arrests, and deportations? The more cash flows through this system.

Private Prisons: The Core of the Crisis

The two names you have to know: GEO Group and CoreCivic.

These private prison empires run most of the country’s ICE detention centers — and make a fortune doing it.

• GEO Group pulled in over $1 billion from ICE in a single year. Their facilities have been sued repeatedly for inhumane conditions, forced labor (paying detainees $1/day), and even wrongful death. They’re publicly traded, and guess who owns a big chunk? BlackRock and Vanguard.

• CoreCivic made over $552 million in ICE contracts. They’ve been slammed by ICE’s own watchdogs for health violations, abuse, and deadly negligence — but the contracts keep coming. Because when human rights crash, stocks rise.

Others cashing in:

• LaSalle Corrections: family-owned, no oversight, plenty of abuse.

• MTC: privately held, runs ICE jails with a track record of mistreatment.

• Akima Global, Akal Security, and Nakamoto Group: all playing their part, from managing facilities to pretending to inspect them.

Surveillance: The Digital ICE Age

You think immigration detention is just cages and fences? Think again. It’s GPS trackers, social media scraping, and ankle monitors you can’t escape.

• BI Incorporated (a GEO subsidiary) is the sole contractor for ICE’s GPS ankle monitors and surveillance apps. It rakes in $400+ million/year. Their tech malfunctions. It shocks people. It causes injuries. And yes, it’s a profit stream GEO brags about to shareholders.

• Palantir Technologies is the brains behind ICE’s digital dragnet. Their software helps ICE track, target, and deportimmigrants in real time. They’ve secured tens of millions in ICE contracts, while their CEO defends it all as “just business.”

• Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis sell immigrants’ personal data to ICE. You read that right — the same company that owns Reuters News is also handing ICE access to addresses, license plates, financial records, and more.

Other tech profiteers: MVM Inc., RELX, ShotSpotter, Anduril, Elbit Systems. This is what modern policing looks like: glitchy, biased, profitable, and fully privatized.

Deportation Airlines: “ICE Air” is Big Business

Flying immigrants out of the country is a booming industry. ICE doesn’t do it alone — they pay private contractors to do the dirty work.

• CSI Aviation — ICE’s top deportation airline. Got a $128M no-bid contract this year. Their CEO hosted Trump campaign events. Their planes have been sites of abuse, shackling, and medical neglect.

• G4S (Allied Universal) — transports detainees on buses and vans. Sued for leaving women shackled in boiling hot vans. Accused of denying food, water, and bathroom access during long trips.Still cashing checks.

• Classic Air Charter, Avelo Airlines, Chenega Corp, and others rotate through contracts like musical chairs. Whoever’s cheapest, fastest, and least public gets the gig.

Food, Phones & Commissary: Exploiting Every Corner

Every meal, every phone call, every basic necessity inside an ICE facility is sold off to the highest bidder. That means:

• Aramark and Trinity feed detainees — often moldy, rotten, undercooked food. It’s the same companies feeding state prisons. Think maggots, hunger strikes, and budget meals under $1.

• Talton Communications, GTL, and Securus charge detainees premium rates just to call their families — sometimes over $5 per minute.

• Keefe Group (owned by H.I.G. Capital) runs commissaries and sells overpriced hygiene items to people who don’t even have soap.

It’s not just immoral — it’s designed to profit off desperation.

Exploited for Labor: Undocumented, But Indispensable

While ICE cages people, U.S. corporations are quietly exploiting them for labor — knowingly.

Let’s name names:

• Koch Foods, Peco Foods, Tyson Foods, Fresh Mark, Pearl River Foods, and Southeastern Provision — all have been caught hiring undocumented workers under the table. Some rehired people wearing ankle monitors —ICE knew. Employers knew. Nobody cared, because profit. Why? Cheap labor. No questions.

• Asplundh Tree Experts paid a $95 million fine for the largest undocumented worker hiring scheme in ICE history. Rehired the same people under new names. “Willful blindness” was the legal term.

ICE raids the workers, not the CEOs.

Builders of the Detention State

Even building ICE jails is a cash cow:

• Deployed Resources runs tent cities like Fort Bliss — under a $3.8B contract, the largest in ICE history. They bought mansions off that money.

• CoreCivic, GEO, and local developers have pitched dozens of new jails disguised as “government real estate solutions.” If they build it, ICE will come.

Even the empty ones get leased for millions. Who said warehousing humans wasn’t a business?

Real Estate & Tent Cities

• Deployed Resources LLC
  Runs ICE’s new $3.8B tent city contract at Fort Bliss. Yes, billions for tents. Their founders bought Florida mansions with their detention profits.

• Scannell Properties & Sherburne County
  Work with CoreCivic and GEO to build new detention centers. County governments build ICE jails, then lease them back to the feds for millions in rent.

Who Really Owns This Crisis?

Behind every cage, every flight, every phone call — there are shareholders. These giants bankroll the entire ecosystem:

• BlackRock — biggest stakeholder in CoreCivic. Also profits from GEO, Palantir, Thomson Reuters, and more.

• Vanguard — owns up to 17% of GEO Group. Also invested in detention tech and data firms.

• State Street, Fidelity, CalPERS, private equity firms — all making money from incarceration and exploitation

• JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, BNP Paribas (former)- Previously financed GEO/CoreCivic expansions. Some divested under pressure—others didn’t.

• Pension Funds
  Your retirement money might be funding immigrant incarceration. CalSTRS divested—others quietly haven’t.

These institutions know where their profits come from. They’ve been called out. They refuse to divest. Because profit doesn’t need morals — just margins.

The Economic Truth: Undocumented Labor Keeps the Economy Running

Strip away the politics, and here’s what the data says:

• 8.05 million undocumented immigrants work in the U.S. labor force
  (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)

• $31.6 billion in federal taxes and $20.4 billion in state/local taxes paid annually
  (Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 2021)

• $13 billion paid into Social Security every year by undocumented workers
  (via fake or expired SSNs)
  (Source: Social Security Administration Chief Actuary)

• $0 in Social Security or Medicare benefits ever received in return

• 73% of farm workers, 28% of construction laborers, and over 20% of food prep and cleaning staff are undocumented
  (Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Workers Survey; Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• Removing all undocumented immigrants would shrink U.S. GDP by 3.2% — or $6.3 trillion over a decade
  (Source: Center for American Progress, 2017 economic modeling)

• Deporting just DACA recipients alone would cost the U.S. $460 billion in GDP and $25 billion in Social Security/Medicare contributions (Source: CATO Institute)

The Bottom Line

Every time ICE raids a home, detains a father, shackles a mother, or flies a child out of the country — someone gets paid

And behind that paycheck is a contract, a boardroom, and a shareholder.

This isn’t just immigration enforcement. This is capitalism running on crisis.

We cannot talk about reform without talking about who’s profiting.

Because this isn’t about “security.” It’s about who owns the law — and how much they can make from it.