Before the Election, We Wanted a Green Card — Now, We’re Not So Sure

Weighing the impact of “Mass Deportation Now” on the American Dream

The US/Mexico border fence at Tijuana, Mexico. Author’s photo.

Private prison stocks are soaring.

On November 5, 2024, election day, it quickly became clear that Donald Trump would win reelection as President of the United States. The next day, shares of , an owner and operator of detention facilities, shot up 29%. , a similar company, surged 42%.

The Trump Effect: share price graph for private prison company CoreCivic (CXW). Source: screenshot from .

A Republican election win would always be good news for prison-industrial-complex companies; the party embraces a pro-law enforcement, tough-on-crime ethos. But, the reason prison owners are salivating extra hard this time around involves the Trump team’s plans regarding immigration.

The slogan — the promise — is “Mass Deportation Now.”

What does deportation have to do with prisons? CoreCivic and GEO Group are government contractors, (ICE) as “valued partners in the immigration detention space.”

Investors believe those partnerships are about to become more lucrative. The…