THE RECEIPTS

Where the money actually goes.

PROPERTY OVERPAYMENTS $154,268,700

WHAT THEY PAID VS. WHAT IT'S WORTH

Social Circle, Georgia
ICE paid $128,555,500
2025 county assessment $29,786,800
Overpayment +$98,768,700

Developer PNK Group bought the land for $29M in 2023. Built a warehouse. Flipped it to the federal government for $128.5M two years later. PNK is owned by Andrey Sharkov, who appears in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database and separated the company from its original Russian entity in 2023. Social Circle cut off the water on March 17: the facility's projected sewage demand (1,001,683 gallons/day) exceeds the city's entire wastewater capacity (660,000 gallons/day).

Covington News (deed records), county tax assessor, Atlanta Press Collective, ICIJ, GPB (March 17, 2026)

Hagerstown, Maryland
ICE paid $102,400,000
Appraised value (7 months prior) $76,800,000
Overpayment +$25,600,000

33% above the appraised value from seven months earlier.

Project Saltbox (appraisal records)

Berks County, Pennsylvania
ICE paid $87,400,000
Sold for (2024) $57,500,000
County assessment $22,000,000
Overpayment (vs. 2024 sale) +$29,900,000

52% markup over the price it sold for one year earlier. 297% above county assessment.

Spotlight PA (property records)

DOCUMENTED OVERPAYMENT (3 PROPERTIES) $154,268,700+
FORT BLISS TENT CITY $1.2B CONTRACT

THE $1.2 BILLION TENT CITY

$1.2B Contract for a 5,000-bed tent facility at Fort Bliss, TX (Camp East Montana)
$240,000 Cost per bed. For tents.
$250-350K Cost per bed for permanent concrete-and-steel federal prisons

The contractor: Acquisition Logistics LLC, registered to a home in Virginia. Never won a federal contract over $16M. Total prior contracts: ~$29M over five years. This contract was 41x larger than everything they'd ever done combined. The government committed ~$600M before termination. ICE inspectors found 49 violations in February 2026, including failure to document suicide-prevention checks.

PBS News, Texas Tribune, VPM

TERMINATED Acquisition Logistics contract terminated March 2026 after measles outbreak (14+ cases, 112 in isolation), three detainee deaths (one ruled a homicide), and conditions failures. Replacement: $452.9M contract to Amentum Services (confirmed March 17), 180-day term through Sept 30, 2026. Facility remains open with ~3,000 detainees. El Paso leaders have called for a federal grand jury investigation.

Washington Post, Texas Tribune, US News (March 13, 2026), NPR (April 3, 2026)

EXPANSION PLAN $38.3B

THE $38.3 BILLION EXPANSION

$38.3B For 8 mega-centers (7,000-10,000 detainees each), 16 processing centers, and 10 turnkey facilities Internal ICE memo (Feb 2026) / Washington Post
$413,500 Per-bed capital cost across the program ($38.3B / 92,600 beds) Calculated from ICE memo
$150-250K National average per-bed cost for new state prison construction Vera Institute / BJS
Nov 2026 Deadline for all facilities to be operational. Experts call this unrealistic. The rush justifies no-bid contracts. ICE memo / Axios

These are warehouse conversions, not new construction. Converting a warehouse costs less than building from scratch. Yet the per-bed cost exceeds permanent prison construction by 18-65%.

DONOR PIPELINE 500-1,000x ROI

THE PIPELINE: DONATE, LOBBY, COLLECT

STEP 1: DONATE

GEO Group ~$2M to Trump/GOP First corporation to max out donations to Trump's presidential campaign
CoreCivic ~$816K to Trump/GOP $500K to 2025 inaugural (2x their 2017 amount)
CSI Aviation ~$840K to Trump/GOP CEO Allen Weh: former NM Republican Party Chairman. Hosted Trump campaign rally at his hangar.
Palantir ~$3.9M to Trump/GOP CEO Alex Karp + advisor Jacob Helberg. Helberg became Under Secretary of State.

STEP 2: LOBBY

All three companies disclosed lobbying specifically on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act -- the law that created the $45 billion detention fund they now collect from. CoreCivic's lobbying spend hit $3.69M in 2025.

STEP 3: COLLECT

GEO Group $520M in new contracts (2025) Largest year of new business in company history. 2025 revenue: $2.63B.
CoreCivic ICE revenue doubled in one year $120M (Q4 2024) to $245M (Q4 2025). Profits up 70%.
CSI Aviation / Salus Worldwide CSI revenue surged 238%; then lost the contract CSI's $219M no-bid contract grew to $560M+, then was replaced by a $915M contract to Salus Worldwide. CSI alleges DHS "pretended to have a competition." DHS IG is now investigating the Salus contract and Corey Lewandowski's role. Salus allegedly demanded $20-30M of a subcontractor deal go to a Lewandowski-linked firm. House Oversight set an April 16 deadline for all documents.
Palantir ICE revenue tripled (+297%) To $81.1M. Surveillance and tracking systems.
RETURN ON POLITICAL INVESTMENT ~$7.5M donated → billions in contracts 500-1,000x return
REVOLVING DOOR 6+ OFFICIALS

THE REVOLVING DOOR

Daniel A. Bible ICE's top detention official Left for GEO Group days before the 2024 election
David Venturella Former ICE Assistant Director Went to GEO Group, then returned to DHS in the second Trump term
Tom Homan Border Czar Former GEO Group consultant. His firm helped clients secure "tens of millions" in federal contracts. In 2024, FBI recorded him accepting a $50K bag from undercover agents in a bribery probe. DOJ closed the investigation.
Pam Bondi Attorney General Paid $390,000 lobbying for GEO Group through Ballard Partners. Ballard's clients keep winning no-bid ICE contracts.
Christopher LaCivita Former Trump Campaign Manager Hired by GEO Group to lobby on "issues regarding contracts related to detention centers."

At least 6 former ICE officials now hold top roles at GEO Group. (POGO investigation)

AD CAMPAIGN (NO-BID) $220M

THE $220 MILLION AD CAMPAIGN

DHS awarded $220 million for anti-immigration advertising. No competitive bidding. The money went to:

$143M Safe America Media LLC -- a Delaware shell company created days before receiving the contract. Run by Michael McElwain, former political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. AP, ProPublica
$77M People Who Think LLC -- owned by Jay Connaughton, media adviser for Trump's 2016 campaign. Worked with Corey Lewandowski (Noem's top DHS adviser). AP, ProPublica

Money from these contracts secretly flowed to The Strategy Group, a firm whose CEO is married to Kristi Noem's chief DHS spokesperson. The Strategy Group ran Noem's gubernatorial campaign. Five senators and two representatives demanded a formal investigation. Government contracting experts called the arrangement "corrupt." On March 4, 2026, Noem was grilled by both parties in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Trump fired her the next day. DHS Inspector General launched a formal probe into the contracts on March 11. DHS claims the campaign drove 2.2M "self-deportations."

ProPublica, South Dakota Searchlight, Senate Judiciary Committee (March 4, 2026), NPR (March 5, 2026)

OVERSIGHT GUTTED 150 → ~20

THE COVER: OVERSIGHT GUTTED

150 → ~20 Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff. Budget cut from $42.9M to $10M.
CLOSED Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The body designed to investigate abuse.
$0 Congressional spending directives attached to the $45B. No requirements for how the money must be used.
0 Competitive bids required for major facility contracts. ICE cites "compelling urgency."
CRIMINALIZED DHS Secretary Noem called videotaping ICE operations "violence" and "doxing." ACLU filed FOIA on retaliation. Protect Democracy filed a class-action lawsuit (Feb 23, 2026) after ICE used facial recognition on observers and told them they were in a "domestic terrorist database."
DEFIED A federal court ordered DHS twice to restore congressional oversight of detention facilities. After the first order (Dec 2025), Noem secretly reinstated prior-notice requirements via an undisclosed memo. Members of Congress were denied entry. A second order was needed (March 2, 2026).
200+ Documented ICE violations of court orders. Judges in Minnesota and New Jersey have threatened criminal contempt. ICE violated at least 96 court orders in 74 cases in January 2026 alone in Minnesota.
48 DAYS DHS partial shutdown (Feb 14 - April 3) -- the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history (48 days). After federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during Minneapolis immigration operations (Jan 2026), Democrats blocked funding without ICE reforms: body cameras, judicial warrants, agent identification, independent investigations. 50,000+ TSA officers worked without pay; 510+ quit. The deal that ended it funded ICE separately as a standalone measure -- a concession to hard-liners that insulates ICE from future shutdown leverage. Democrats failed to extract any ICE reforms. Mullin confirmed 54-45 on March 23 as DHS Secretary (Fetterman and Heinrich crossed party lines).
14 AIRPORTS ICE agents deployed to airports starting March 22 to manage TSA delays. Originally described as crowd control and queue management only, agents are now conducting ID checks at some airports. They are not trained or certified for security screening. AFGE union president called it "a dangerous escalation." Airports include JFK, Atlanta, Phoenix, O'Hare, Houston, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, LaGuardia, New Orleans, and Southwest Florida.

The watchdog closures originated in Project 2025, written by Ken Cuccinelli. A federal lawsuit (RFK Human Rights v. DHS) challenges the legality.

The Lever, NPR, Center for American Progress, NPR (criminalizing observation), Democracy Forward, NPR (facial recognition lawsuit), Washington Post (court order violations), CBS (Day 42), NBC News (longest shutdown), NPR (TSA pay directive), NPR (Mullin confirmed), Military.com (airport ID checks), Government Executive (TSA back pay, March 30), PBS (TSA back pay confirmed)

DETENTION VS ALTERNATIVES 40x MORE

THE ALTERNATIVE THEY WON'T USE

DETENTION $165+/day Per person. Warehouses. No medical care since Oct 2025. 49+ deaths.
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION $4.20/day Ankle monitors, check-ins. 99% court appearance rate.

Detention costs 40x more. The $38.3 billion expansion budget could monitor the entire undocumented population via alternatives for over 7 years.

This isn't inefficiency. It's a business model.

TOTAL DOCUMENTED $5.4B

POGO investigation

ALL SOURCES 23 CITATIONS
Where does the money go? Now you know.