ICE Releases New Detention Regulations Benefiting For-Profit Prison Companies

On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new “National Detention Standards” that ease regulations in immigration jails for the benefit of for-profit prison companies.
In its report, ICE claims that the new national standards “streamline” its regulations and “reduce the burden” on detention operators. But the revised standards eliminate pay requirements for people being detained — which previously often stood at $1 a day — and eliminate mandates requiring in-person and telephone interpretation and translation.

The new regulations state that AI can be used for “non-critical communication” and “informal interactions with detainees” in lieu of real-life translation services. ICE said that this ensures interpretation will be available “at no cost to the detainees” – as if, without AI, those detained should be expected to pay for interpretation. Advocates have sounded the alarm that “noncritical communication” includes responding to the grievances of those detained, which often include complaints about being denied lifesaving medical care.

The regulations also state that facilities cannot refuse to admit anyone ICE has detained. According to The Associated Press, this means that “facilities may not be able to immediately refer severely ill or disabled detainees whom they cannot accommodate to hospitals or other settings for care.” It also reduces the liability of immigration jails in case of deaths. At least 50 individuals have died in ICE detention or shortly after since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that during the revision process, GEO Group – one of the U.S.’s top two private prison and detention companies – requested that ICE make changes that would benefit its for-profit business.

Reportedly, GEO Group asked ICE to remove regulations that called on contractors to follow state and local laws regarding the treatment of detained people, and to add language supporting GEO Group’s legal position – for example, stating that detainees are not employees at the facilities, thereby waiving the $1-a-day required pay. The new regulations also prevent facilities from paying above the $1-a-day amount — which has for years been decried as amounting to forced labor.

The Washington Post’s source also stated that CoreCivic, the U.S.’s other top private prison company, was consulted during the revision process for the new regulations for detention centers.

GEO Group is currently facing dozens of lawsuits, including multiple class action lawsuits, in Washington, New Jersey, and Colorado. The lawsuits allege labor law violations, “deplorable” health conditions in facilities, and beatings, violence, and other forms of retaliation by GEO Group staff.

ICE implemented some of GEO Group’s requested changes, most notably waiving the $1 per day pay for detained people working at the immigration jails, and removing references to the requirement that the prison companies comply with state and local laws.

Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and ICE acting director David Venturella, appointed just last month, both previously worked for GEO Group, which has ICE as its largest customer. Venturella joined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately after leaving GEO Group, where he acted as senior executive and oversaw the company’s detention centers, and then as a consultant.

GEO Group and CoreCivic each donated $500,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund in December 2024. And both have profited off of Trump’s expansion of detention over the course of his second term.

Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen explained that the $1-a-day program comes from a 1950 policy that was never changed.

“The $1 a day pay program is an affront to every working individual,” she said in a statement. “The new standard appears to be intended as a gift to the for-profit contractors running detention centers, based on recent media reports. These corporations, which have seen record profits under the Trump administration’s mass immigration detention policy, are now facing lawsuits demanding they pay detainees the state minimum wage.”