Who profits from immigration detention?

Make Me Smart

Marketplace

News, Business

4.6 • 5.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republicans’ freshly passed spending bill sets aside $45 billion just to expand immigration detention centers. And a number of private companies are poised to profit from the surge in funding. On the show today, Deirdre Conlon, co-author of the new book “Immigration Detention Inc" explains how immigration detention became dominated by private companies, how local economies have become entangled with the business of detention, and how Trump’s spending law changes everything.

Plus, we’ll celebrate a listener’s cross-country move. And, a reminder to try being a local tourist.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

"Trump got $170 billion for immigration. Now he has to enact it." from Politico
"We Asked Trump’s Former Prisons Chief How $45 Billion Will Reshape Immigrant Detention" from Mother Jones
"Budget Bill Massively Increases Funding for Immigration Detention" from the Brennan Center for Justice
"Trump administration seeks to turn mass deportations into an efficient business ‘like Amazon’" from PBS News
"Unchecked Growth: Private Prison Corporations and Immigration Detention, Three Years Into the Biden Administration" from the ACLU

Got a question for the hosts? Email [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Transcript

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	...

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