ICE doesn’t deport, it produces dividends: the industry of locking up migrants

Editors Note: Article originally published in El Machete. The clashes with ICE in Los Angeles reflected the spirit of internationalism among workers and peoples of all nationalities. These confrontations are not isolated incidents, they are part of the broader class struggle. To understand their significance, this article helps to understand how ICE’s violent arrests and the separation of families are deeply connected to the interests of the bourgeoisie, to the accumulation of capital and the drive for higher profits through intensified exploitation. This connection is evident in the planned construction of detention centers across ten states. In Miami, Florida, for instance, a massive facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is being built, occurring in the midst of the revocation of protected status for Haitians, nearly three-quarters of whom live in Florida and work in sectors like food service, grocery, education, and construction. The altar of profit is built on the blood and suffering of the working class.

The United States government has set a goal of 3,000 arrests per day and 1 million deportations by the end of the year.

Since January 21, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has detained more than 100,000 people suspected of being in the country illegally. So far, 75% of those deported have no criminal records, and more than 50% had an asylum application pending at the time of their detention. With so many people affected, who is benefiting from these raids?

Private prison corporations control prisons in the U.S., and like any private company, their priority is not providing the best services but rather maximizing profits. This, of course, means a precarious quality of life for inmates, with poor food, poor sanitary conditions, and overcrowded cells. Some prisons even have maquila and assembly plants where inmates are employed in near-slavery conditions.

Immigrant detention centers are even worse than prisons. Many of them, being “temporary detention centers,” lack recreation areas or visiting rooms. Furthermore, these centers are located in remote areas, making it difficult for their lawyers to obtain legal assistance, and their families often don’t know where they are being held. Prisoners who have been through a trial and have been sentenced know exactly how long it will take for them to get out, while those detained in ICE raids have no idea when they will be released, if they ever get out.

These detention centers, in addition to denying the most basic rights, are even more profitable than prisons. Detainees are forced to work, and those who refuse are threatened with “disciplinary actions” such as food deprivation or solitary confinement. This allows the company to maintain minimal expenses, while its contracts with ICE guarantee a fixed monthly income per inmate. The bourgeoisie implements new methods for the old practice of slavery.

It should come as no surprise that the audacity of these prison companies is surpassed only by their enthusiasm, as they estimate they will earn more than a trillion dollars this year. Brian Evan, CEO of one of these corporations, announced at his shareholders’ meeting on November 7, 2024, that: “GEO Group was formed for this unique moment in our country’s history and the opportunities it will bring,” while Damon Hininger, CEO of CoreCivic, stated on February 11, 2025, “I have worked for more than 32 years (at the company) and this is truly one of the most exciting times of my career.” It is no surprise that both men feel at the top of their game when federal and state contracts with ICE alone represent a 27% share for GEO Group and a 30% share for CoreCivic of their total revenue. Let’s hope they haven’t forgotten the fate of their UnitedHealthcare counterpart, Brian Thompson, so quickly.

But despite the spectacular daily arrest rates, these companies don’t expect the government to do everything. Part of their exorbitant profits is directed toward developing software to increase surveillance and more efficiently locate these “dangerous criminals” deported for traffic tickets, as well as toward implementing reforms that make asylum and residency approval processes more difficult. Today, migrants seeking asylum attend their appointments only to be arrested by ICE.

These prison companies are not restricted to the United States but have expanded their contracts to Latin America, as is the case with the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, which has a capacity for 40,000 detainees and is advertised as a place from which “they will only leave in a coffin.” It has stood out because thousands of South American migrants have been deported there, most of them opaquely linked to the Tren de Aragua gang. This center holds up to 60 detainees per cell with a single toilet, sharing steel bunks without mattresses or blankets. This prison also stands out for its structure, which resembles a set of warehouses rather than a fortress, which is also reflected in the lower construction cost and, therefore, higher returns for the three companies involved (OMNI, DISA, and Contratista General de América Latina, SA de CV), two of which are American.

Worryingly, the CECOT sets a precedent for other Hispanic countries that have already expressed interest in building facilities that follow this model. In January 2024, Ecuador announced it would build two prisons with a capacity of 24,000 inmates, and just a few days ago, Costa Rica announced it would begin building a CECOT-based prison as part of its collaboration with El Salvador against gangs. We can see how corporations in these different countries salivate at the profit speculation that the market for incarcerating human beings promises.

These measures show us that the bourgeoisie views workers as little more than cattle, carefully tracking arrest quotas as if they were production metrics, prioritizing speed and volume over due process, and is willing to strip away every last labor and human right for the benefit of their own profits. The conclusion cannot be written, but it can be seen in the streets of Los Angeles, where workers of all nationalities have come out to confront ICE, because there are only two options: either with the bosses or with the working class.