The Receipts

WHAT THEY PAID VS. WHAT IT'S WORTH

Social Circle, Georgia

ICE paid $128,555,500

2025 county assessment $29,786,800

Overpayment +$98,768,700

Developer PNK Group bought the land for $29M in 2023. Built a warehouse. Flipped it to the federal government for $128.5M two years later. PNK is owned by Andrey Sharkov, who appears in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database and separated the company from its original Russian entity in 2023.

Covington News (deed records), county tax assessor, Atlanta Press Collective, ICIJ

Hagerstown, Maryland

ICE paid $102,400,000

Appraised value (7 months prior) $76,800,000

Overpayment +$25,600,000

33% above the appraised value from seven months earlier.

Project Saltbox (appraisal records)

Berks County, Pennsylvania

ICE paid $87,400,000

Sold for (2024) $57,500,000

County assessment $22,000,000

Overpayment (vs. 2024 sale) +$29,900,000

52% markup over the price it sold for one year earlier. 297% above county assessment.

Spotlight PA (property records)

DOCUMENTED OVERPAYMENT (3 PROPERTIES) $154,268,700+

THE $1.26 BILLION TENT CITY

$1.26B Contract for a 5,000-bed tent facility at Fort Bliss, TX

$252,000 Cost per bed. For tents.

$250-350K Cost per bed for permanent concrete-and-steel federal prisons

The contractor: Acquisition Logistics LLC, registered to a home in Virginia. Never won a federal contract over $16M. Total prior contracts: ~$29M over five years. This contract was 43x larger than everything they'd ever done combined.

PBS News, Texas Tribune, VPM

THE $38.3 BILLION EXPANSION

$38.3B For 8 mega-centers (7,000-10,000 detainees each), 16 processing centers, and 10 turnkey facilities Internal ICE memo (Feb 2026) / Washington Post

$413,500 Per-bed capital cost across the program ($38.3B / 92,600 beds) Calculated from ICE memo

$150-250K National average per-bed cost for new state prison construction Vera Institute / BJS

Nov 2026 Deadline for all facilities to be operational. Experts call this unrealistic. The rush justifies no-bid contracts. ICE memo / Axios

These are warehouse conversions, not new construction. Converting a warehouse costs less than building from scratch. Yet the per-bed cost exceeds permanent prison construction by 18-65%.

THE PIPELINE: DONATE, LOBBY, COLLECT

STEP 1: DONATE

GEO Group ~$2M to Trump/GOP First corporation to max out donations to Trump's presidential campaign

CoreCivic ~$816K to Trump/GOP $500K to 2025 inaugural (2x their 2017 amount)

CSI Aviation ~$840K to Trump/GOP CEO Allen Weh: former NM Republican Party Chairman. Hosted Trump campaign rally at his hangar.

Palantir ~$3.9M to Trump/GOP CEO Alex Karp + advisor Jacob Helberg. Helberg became Under Secretary of State.

STEP 2: LOBBY

All three companies disclosed lobbying specifically on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act -- the law that created the $45 billion detention fund they now collect from. CoreCivic's lobbying spend hit $3.69M in 2025.

STEP 3: COLLECT

GEO Group $520M in new contracts (2025) Largest year of new business in company history. 2025 revenue: $2.63B.

CoreCivic ICE revenue doubled in one year $120M (Q4 2024) to $245M (Q4 2025). Profits up 70%.

CSI Aviation Revenue surged 238% to $1.23B $219M no-bid deportation flight contract. ICE cited "urgency."

Palantir ICE revenue tripled (+297%) To $81.1M. Surveillance and tracking systems.

RETURN ON POLITICAL INVESTMENT ~$7.5M donated → billions in contracts 500-1,000x return

THE REVOLVING DOOR

Daniel A. Bible ICE's top detention official Left for GEO Group days before the 2024 election

David Venturella Former ICE Assistant Director Went to GEO Group, then returned to DHS in the second Trump term

Tom Homan Border Czar Former GEO Group consultant. His firm helped clients secure "tens of millions" in federal contracts. In 2024, FBI recorded him accepting a $50K bag from undercover agents in a bribery probe. DOJ closed the investigation.

Pam Bondi Attorney General Paid $390,000 lobbying for GEO Group through Ballard Partners. Ballard's clients keep winning no-bid ICE contracts.

Christopher LaCivita Former Trump Campaign Manager Hired by GEO Group to lobby on "issues regarding contracts related to detention centers."

At least 6 former ICE officials now hold top roles at GEO Group. (POGO investigation)

THE $220 MILLION AD CAMPAIGN

DHS awarded $220 million for anti-immigration advertising. No competitive bidding. The money went to:

$143M Safe America Media LLC -- a Delaware shell company created days before receiving the contract. Run by Michael McElwain, former political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. AP, ProPublica

$77M People Who Think LLC -- owned by Jay Connaughton, media adviser for Trump's 2016 campaign. Worked with Corey Lewandowski (Noem's top DHS adviser). AP, ProPublica

Money from these contracts secretly flowed to The Strategy Group, a firm whose CEO is married to Kristi Noem's chief DHS spokesperson. The Strategy Group ran Noem's gubernatorial campaign. Five senators and two representatives demanded a formal investigation. Government contracting experts called the arrangement "corrupt."

ProPublica, South Dakota Searchlight

THE COVER: OVERSIGHT GUTTED

150 → 9 Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff. Budget slashed 75%.

CLOSED Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The body designed to investigate abuse.

$0 Congressional spending directives attached to the $45B. No requirements for how the money must be used.

0 Competitive bids required for major facility contracts. ICE cites "compelling urgency."

The watchdog closures originated in Project 2025, written by Ken Cuccinelli. A federal lawsuit (RFK Human Rights v. DHS) challenges the legality.

The Lever, NPR, Center for American Progress

THE ALTERNATIVE THEY WON'T USE

DETENTION $165+/day Per person. Warehouses. No medical care since Oct 2025. 41+ deaths.

ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION $4.20/day Ankle monitors, check-ins. 99% court appearance rate.

Detention costs 40x more. The $38.3 billion expansion budget could monitor the entire undocumented population via alternatives for over 7 years.

This isn't inefficiency. It's a business model.