Biden promised but failed to end federal use of private prisons. That’s left the industry ready to cash in big under Trump
CNN
Shares of private prison companies have grown since the election. Those facilities could expand under Trump, despite claims of abuse and mistreatment.
Just over four years ago on the campaign trail, Joe Biden made a bold pledge to voters that as president he would end the federal use of private prisons – facilities where inmates have long complained of abusive treatment. But as he left office last month, his record on that matter fell short: While Biden ended the Bureau of Prison’s contracts with private prisons, he allowed their use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand. Today, because of ICE detainees, the federal government has more people in private prisons than when Biden took office, according to data obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information request and provided to CNN. And Biden’s choice to exempt ICE from his private prison policies did something more: It paved the way for President Donald Trump to quickly expand their use to hold undocumented immigrants. Among the flurry of inauguration day executive orders Trump signed was one overturning Biden’s executive order on private prisons. But long before then, in the waning months of the Biden administration, ICE asked private-prison companies such as Geo Group and CoreCivic, among others, for proposals to expand private-prison capacity this year in at least seven states: California, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas and Washington. That move came despite ongoing allegations of poor conditions and improper treatment of detainees in many private prisons. Shareholders in those companies expect a huge payday under Trump. Between Election Day in November and Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Geo Group shares rose 133% in price, while CoreCivic shares jumped nearly 60%, far outpacing the broader stock market.
The Trump administration is planning widespread layoffs among the federal workforce soon, leaving employees who don’t accept its deferred resignation offer at risk of losing their jobs, two Trump administration officials told CNN.
Authorities in three states have made arrests in connection with individuals impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, as tensions rise amid a nationwide immigration crackdown.
Conservative backlash has brought Speaker Mike Johnson’s budget plans to a halt, offering an early sign of the struggle Republicans will face as they try to muscle President Donald Trump’s agenda through a narrowly divided Congress.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, a White House official told CNN.
On Monday, President Donald Trump put a month-long pause on his planned tariffs on Canadian imports. Earlier in the day, though, he added two new items to his long list of inaccurate complaints about Canada.
The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would kick off the process of eliminating the Department of Education, the latest move by President Donald Trump to swiftly carry out his campaign promises, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.
As tents went up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to hold migrants, attorneys at the Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon were still trying to determine whether it was legal to take the unprecedented step of flying migrants from the US southern border to the facility, according to two US officials and a person familiar with the planning.
Dozens of senior officials put on leave. Thousands of contractors laid off. A freeze put on billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to other countries.
The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group was convicted Monday of conspiring with his former girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.
Senior FBI leaders are bracing for a Tuesday deadline as they grapple with whether to hand over information demanded by the Justice Department regarding bureau employees who worked cases involving the January 6 Capitol riot, multiple sources tell CNN.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival as the first foreign leader to pay President Donald Trump a visit since he returned to the White House comes at a consequential moment.
Crews in Washington, DC, working at the site of the deadliest aviation disaster in a generation are balancing two important missions: extracting parts of two aircraft that crashed and fell into the Potomac and searching for remains of victims within the wreckage, which is the searchers’ priority.
The Trump administration’s freeze of foreign aid and dismantling of the agency that oversees it is putting at risk thousands of jobs in the US and abroad, industry sources told CNN.