Private Prison Stocks Soar After Trump's 2024 Victory: CoreCivic Up 29%, GEO Group Up 42% in Single Session

Following Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, private prison stocks experience their second massive surge after a Trump win. CoreCivic stock jumps 29% and GEO Group vaults 42% in a single trading session as investors bet on profits from Trump’s pledge to carry out “the largest mass detention and deportation of immigrants in US history.” Private prison companies and their executives donated over $2.7 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, inaugural committee, and related fundraising entities, with both companies contributing $500,000 each to his inaugural committee.

Stocks surge again when Trump appoints Tom Homan as “border czar”—the same official who told a conservative conference in July he “will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen.” Wall Street’s enthusiasm reflects expectations of enormous contracts: potential deals could total up to $45 billion over the next two years as dozens of privately operated ICE detention facilities may open in at least eight states (California, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington).

The stock performance demonstrates that investors have learned from 2016: Trump’s presidency means guaranteed profits for the incarceration industry. During Trump’s first administration, the federal government expanded immigration detention by over 50%, “overwhelmingly benefitting private prison companies.” With over 70% of the nearly 40,000 immigrants in detention already held in private facilities, Trump’s mass deportation promises represent a massive expansion opportunity. The market celebration of Trump’s victory reveals the fundamental corruption: corporations and their shareholders financially benefit from policies that tear apart families and incarcerate human beings en masse.