Former GEO Group executive to lead ICE as private prison profits surge

The Trump administration has appointed former GEO Group executive David Venturella as the new acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), deepening concerns about the growing relationship between private prison companies and US immigration enforcement. The appointment comes as the administration aggressively expands detention and deportation operations across the United States.

Critics say the move highlights the “revolving door” between government agencies and private prison corporations that profit from immigration detention. This comes on top of a surge in abuse allegations in immigration detention centers and private prison corporations profiting from what advocates describe as forced labor.

Huge profits from deportation expansion

ICE has become central to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. That has equaled major financial gains for the private prison companies servicing the detention system. Strikingly, GEO Group’s stock price has risen roughly 55% in the past six months. And the company recently secured a $1 billion contract to open a large detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. During a recent earnings call, GEO Group’s CEO described it as the most successful business expansion in the company’s history.

GEO Group currently operates more than a dozen federal immigration detention facilities across the US. In a letter to ICE written when he worked for GEO Group, the recent appointee acknowledged that forced labor was baked into that success. For refusing to work, Venturella stated that detainees could suffer adverse consequences, including the threat of solitary confinement. Indeed, he defended the treatment calling the practices “legal and consistent with ICE’s policies”. Now he is poised to head up the federal organization.

Silky Shah of Detention Watch Network said about the appointment in Al Jazeera:

This is a classic example of the revolving-door phenomenon, Venturella’s intimate knowledge of ICE will likely yield another spike of ICE detention facility openings.

Watchdog groups say the overlap between public enforcement agencies and private prison corporations raises serious ethical concerns. According to the Project on Government Oversight, GEO Group executives have previously lobbied federal officials for expanded detention contracts while maintaining close ties to political leaders. Advocates argue that these relationships create incentives to expand detention rather than pursue humane immigration solutions.

Rights groups warn of abuse and lack of oversight

The leadership change also comes amid mounting concerns over conditions inside ICE detention centers broadly. Further, rights groups have repeatedly documented allegations of medical neglect, unsafe conditions, and abusive treatment inside detention centers. At least 18 people have died in ICE custody during the first four months of 2026 alone, following 31 deaths reported in 2025—the highest annual total in two decades.

Aurora Democratic Rep. Jason Crow said in a statement about for profit prisons and detention centers:

Right now, corporations are incentivized and make billions of dollars to put people behind bars. It’s a broken and inhumane system. I’m leading the charge in Congress to end this practice and hold them accountable.

Meanwhile, oversight mechanisms are weakening. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security shut down key internal watchdog bodies responsible for investigating abuse complaints in immigration detention. Advocates warned the move would leave detained migrants with even fewer protections and less accountability.

Critics also point to the GEO Group’s long legal history surrounding detention practices. In 2024, the US Supreme Court blocked a challenge seeking to hold GEO Group accountable under California labor protections for detained workers. Rights groups said the ruling strengthened a system where detained migrants could be exploited and forced to work for little or no pay.

Growing fear over the future of immigration enforcement

Advocates say this appointment signals an intent to further expand detention infrastructure and aggressive enforcement tactics. ICE has already faced criticism this year over large-scale raids and militarized operations. In Minneapolis, two US citizens were fatally shot during an immigration enforcement operation that sparked nationwide outrage. And as detention systems grow more profitable, the risks of abuse, exploitation and lack of accountability are also increase.

For Freedom United and immigrant rights groups, the concern is no longer just about border policy. Instead, they say, it is about whether immigration detention in the US has become a business model driven by corporate profit and modern slavery rather than humane treatment of vulnerable people and protection of their human rights. And public pressure and vigilance have never mattered more. Freedom United is calling on GEO Group and to end forced labor in its detention facilities. Adding your name to the campaign underlines the message that profiteering from coerced labor behind closed doors without oversight is never OK.