PA Immigration Info
The GEO Group
Founded in 1984, GEO Group has become ICE’s largest contractor, operating detention centers while also controlling immigrant transport and surveillance. Through subsidiaries, GEO holds ICE’s exclusive electronic monitoring contract and provides most of its transportation, including thousands of deportation flights each year. In 2024, ICE accounted for 41% of GEO’s revenue.
GEO’s influence extends beyond contracts: the company is a major political donor to Donald Trump and Republicans, with executives, PACs, and subsidiaries funneling millions into campaigns and super PACs. Its lobbyists include numerous former government officials, and high-profile figures like former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan have worked for GEO.
With profits tied directly to mass detention and deportation, GEO continues to shape policy while benefiting financially from immigration enforcement.
Programs
287(g) Agreements
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act lets ICE train and authorize local police to act as immigration agents—checking status, issuing detainers, and starting deportations from local jails. Critics say it fuels racial profiling, erodes trust, and drives mass deportations over minor arrests.
How it works:
Local police sign an agreement with ICE, receive training, and then act as immigration agents.
Under this program, local police can:
- interview individuals to ascertain their immigration status;
- check DHS databases for information on individuals;
- issue immigration detainers to hold individuals until ICE takes custody;
- enter data into ICE’s database and case management system;
- issue a Notice to Appear (NTA), which is the official charging document that begins the removal process;
- make recommendations for voluntary departure in place of formal removal proceedings;
- make recommendations for detention and immigration bond; and
- transfer noncitizens into ICE custody.
This has been widely criticized for leading to:
- Racial profiling
- Erosion of trust between immigrant communities & police
- Mass deportations from minor arrests
Participating Agencies: & Pending Agencies:
OTHER RESOURCES:
The 287(g) Program: An Overview by the American Immigration Council
NEWS:
The revival of an old program delegates Trump immigration enforcement to local police
Bucks sheriff and ICE collaboration is official; legal challenge expected
7 local police forces partnering with ICE on immigration enforcement
More police and constables in Pennsylvania sign on to become federal immigration cops
Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank claims to “strengthen communities,” but unlike most major banks that cut ties, it continues to finance private prison giants CoreCivic and GEO Group, the same companies profiting from Trump’s expansion of immigrant detention, deportation, and surveillance.
Nearly 90% of people in ICE custody are held in private facilities, and CoreCivic and GEO stand to gain billions from plans to more than double detention capacity. These corporations have funneled money into Trump’s campaigns while imprisoning tens of thousands of people with no criminal record. The call: Citizens must pledge to stop financing CoreCivic and GEO—and we can all take action by supporting the #BoycottCitizens campaign.
FAQ
What is Citizen Bank's relationship with CoreCivic & The GEO Group?
Citizens Financial Group (CFG) is the parent company of Citizens Bank. Through Citizens Bank and other subsidiaries, CFG has been a lender to CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) since at least 2012. According to SEC filings, CFG has also been a lender to GEO Group since at least 2024.
Which banks already cut ties with CoreCivic and The GEO Group? Why did they stop financing them?
Between March and August 2019, nine major banks pledged to stop lending to CoreCivic and GEO in response to intense public pressure. The first was JPMorgan Chase, followed by Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third, PNC, Barclays*, and U.S. Bank.
These institutions likely chose to cut ties due to a combination of factors: grassroots activism (street protests, sit-ins, petitions, etc.), congressional scrutiny and televised hearings, reputational risk, and mounting legal challenges such as state-level private prison bans and lawsuits due to the conditions and treatment people experienced at facilities.
Won't CoreCivic and The GEO Group just find other lenders if the current ones cut ties?
Yes, there are plenty of other potential lenders out there. Reducing their pool of willing lenders won’t immediately put CoreCivic and The GEO Group out of business—but it will make it harder, and likely more expensive, for them to borrow money.
In fact, both companies acknowledge this risk in the ‘Risk Factors’ sections of their 2024 annual reports. CoreCivic cites “risks and uncertainties associated with the availability of debt and equity financing on terms that are favorable to us or at all.” GEO warns:
“If other financial institutions or third parties that currently provide us with financing or that we do business with decide in the future to cease providing us with financing or doing business with us, such determinations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.”
So while this campaign won’t shut them down outright, it can increase their costs during a crucial period of planned expansion and discourage other banks from financing them.
Avelo
Avelo Airlines is the first U.S. commercial airline to contract with ICE for secret deportation flights. These flights are operated without public oversight or assurance of legal counsel and due process for those on board.
Every day this contract stands, Avelo cashes in on tearing families apart — and every day it runs, deportation profiteering becomes more normalized. If they get away with it, other airlines will follow. Our leverage? Hitting them on every front — at their airports, in the states and cities bankrolling them, and on the campuses that partner with them — until doing ICE’s dirty work costs too much to continue.
Fact: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport has pursued $500,000 in federal grant funding, plus local matches and in-kind support to provide Avelo with revenue guarantees, marketing money, and fee waivers — totaling about $1.5 million in value.
VOCABULARY & ACRONYMS
CIRCULAR TRANSFERS: Individuals are transferred, sometimes thousands of miles, between multiple detention facilities before returning back to the same facility they had been detained originally.
SOURCE: TRAFFICKED & TORTURED Mapping ICE Transfers CNN NEWS STORY
ERO: Enforcement and Removal Operations
HSI: Homeland Security Investigations
CBP: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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