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Prison Operators Could Cash In on Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Immigration Policy

  • GEO Group, CoreCivic each runs a family detention center
  • Both companies made campaign contributions, increased lobbying
Michael Jackson Could Go to Santa Barbara Jail

Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images

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The biggest private prison operators, which have poured money into Republican coffers, stand to make a windfall from President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration that has pushed thousands of undocumented immigrants into detention.

The Department of Homeland Security is considering adding space for 15,000 additional people in family detention centers, about five times current capacity, even as the number of border crossings declines.