Public commenter says ICE contracts, private-prison profits are driving detention expansion and harming families
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
At a shadow hearing, a public commenter alleged ICE and Border Patrol contracted for large amounts of ammunition and 'less‑lethal' equipment and said private‑prison profits and donations to lawmakers are encouraging expanded detention; she cited specific company profit figures and described personal family trauma.
A public commenter at a shadow hearing on March 7 alleged that contracts by U.S. immigration enforcement agencies and profit motives at private prison companies are fueling expanded detention and harming families.
The commenter, identified in the record only as a public commenter, said she found imagery on the porch of a woman she addressed as "Miss Gibson Brown" and linked that image to what she described as a broader pattern of militarization. "I saw that image immediately in front of your home. That's your home," she told Gibson Brown, adding that she noticed "the military gear, the silencers." She said she had reviewed procurement records and "according to some records, a report that recently came out, they've already spent about...more than $30,000,000 in ammunition and $25,000,000 in...less‑lethal" equipment.
The speaker attributed the procurement to ICE and U.S. Border Patrol and described the purchases as including "pepper ball guns," tasers and other so‑called less‑lethal tools. She said she wanted to "enter the record" a report she characterized as documenting private‑prison investor pressure on enforcement agencies to increase detentions.
The commenter named CoreCivic and GEO Group as private prison companies she said have benefited financially, saying CoreCivic's profit "spiked up about $116.5 million in 2025" and that GEO Group "made $254,000,000 in profit last year in 2025," assertions she presented as reasons the companies and their investors press for larger detention populations. She added that both companies, in her recounting, projected larger profits in 2026 and that some investors had pushed for more capacity, including a proposed warehouse facility in Romulus, Michigan.
Addressing accountability, the speaker said private‑prison executives and companies have "donated millions of dollars to members of Congress" and suggested those donations create incentives to expand detention. She also quoted an ICE official she named only as "Todd," saying he described treating detention and deportation "like Amazon Prime, but with human beings," a line the commenter used to illustrate what she called dehumanizing language from agency leadership.
The testimony included personal anecdotes: the commenter said several residents she knows had asked to be deported because they could not endure conditions in detention, and she said there had been "an attempted suicide at North Lake in Baldwin, Michigan" since July. She framed those examples as evidence of the human toll of detention and concluded by urging that the report she cited be entered into the hearing record. "I just can't thank you enough for being here," she told Gibson Brown, adding she was moved to tears by Brown's story.
The hearing record contains the comment and the speaker's request to enter the report; no formal action or vote is recorded in the transcript of this session. The claims in the comment — including contract totals, company profit figures and the characterization of investor influence — were presented by the commenter and are not independently verified in the hearing record.