'If You Can Keep It': The Private Companies Profiting Off ICE
1A
NPR
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
And those arrested with no criminal record rose by over 2,000 percent since Trump took office. That’s according to a report last month from the American Immigration Council. That’s a non-partisan non-profit focused on immigrant rights.
But for private companies invested in the administration’s agenda, that human cost has meant a hefty pay check. The private prison companies CoreCivic and The GEO Group have both reported $2 billion, or a 13 percent increase, in revenue in 2025. The two contractors opened nine new detention centers for ICE use.
In this installment of our weekly politics series, “If You Can Keep It,” the private companies profiting from President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
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| 0:00.0 | Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, |
| 0:05.4 | investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. |
| 0:11.1 | More information is available at Hewlett.org. President Trump's immigration crackdown has real human costs. |
| 0:25.8 | Thirteen people have been shot by ICE and federal agents since September. |
| 0:30.1 | At least three of those shootings killed American citizens, including Renee Maclin Good |
| 0:34.3 | and Alex Prattie in Minnesota and Rubin Ray Martinez in Texas last March. |
| 0:40.2 | The number of people held in detention centers increased by nearly 75% in 2025. Around 68,000 people |
| 0:47.7 | are currently detained in U.S. facilities, according to the latest ICE data. And those arrested, |
| 0:52.9 | with no criminal record, rose by over 2,000 |
| 0:55.8 | percent since Trump took office. That's according to a report last month from the American |
| 1:00.2 | Immigration Council, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on immigrant rights. But for private companies |
| 1:05.8 | invested in the administration's agenda, that human cost also means a big paycheck. The private prison |
| 1:12.8 | company's core civic and the geo group both report $2 billion or a 13% increase in revenue in 2025. |
| 1:21.7 | The two companies opened nine new detention centers under contracts with ICE in the last year. |
| 1:27.0 | For today's installment of our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, the private |
| 1:32.1 | companies profiting from President Trump's immigration crackdown. |
| 1:35.8 | But first, we check in on a different piece of this administration's mass deportation agenda, |
| 1:40.2 | immigration courts and the legal system. |
| 1:42.5 | I'm Jen White. |
| 1:43.3 | And I'm Todd's Willey. |
| 1:44.1 | You're listening to the |
| 1:45.1 | 1A podcast. Back with more after a short break. Stay with us. Support for NPR and the following message |
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