ICE Is Getting Legal Advice From South Florida's Private-Prison Giant, Emails Show
Before the federal government sued California in an attempt to open the state to private-prison contractors, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought the advice of GEO Group, the Boca Raton-based, multibillion-dollar private-detention-facility corporation.
Mother Jones broke news of the close ties between GEO and ICE's legal team this past Friday. New Times has since obtained the full trove of files related to the cooperation from the 501(c)(4) group Democracy Forward. They show an extremely high level of coordination between top ICE officials and GEO's legal team long before the Department of Justice filed its case, which was tossed this past July. New Times was also able to identify multiple GEO employees involved in the conversation, including Adam Hasner, the former Majority Leader in the Florida House of Representatives.
While both ICE and GEO have stated the emails show routine conversations between government agencies and their contractors, private-prison-industry critics are sure to seize on the disclosures as proof the company exerts far too much influence over the federal government.
GEO is the largest ICE contractor in America and holds nearly a half-billion dollars in contracts. Roughly one-fourth of GEO's entire revenue comes from running ICE detention centers. A full third of ICE detainees occupy a GEO jail. Before Donald Trump took office, GEO's stock was falling thanks to a Barack Obama executive order banning the use of for-profit prisons at the federal level. GEO then (allegedly illegally) donated quite a lot of money to the Trump campaign and Attorney General Jeff Sessions then rescinded the Obama-era ban. GEO also moved its yearly company conference to the Trump National Doral golf course in 2017.
Read more: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/geo-group-coordinated-on-ices-california-lawsuit-emails-show-10945740
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