Latest news with #TheGEOGroup
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Your Financial Portfolio Might Be Funding Immigration Prisons
Rats running across sandwich bread. Seventy people in a crowded bunk room without air conditioning with outside temperatures nearing 90 degrees. A woman begging for four and a half months to see a doctor for suspected colon cancer, and still she waits. Another woman finally granted a doctor's visit, only to be sexually assaulted. These are some of the horror stories we heard during our recent visit to ICE detention centers across Louisiana, many of which are run by the notorious GEO Group, a private prison operator. These stories aren't the exception. These facilities, mostly located in remote towns far from legal aid or media scrutiny, are the frontlines of a growing humanitarian crisis. Razor wire is seen. Razor wire is the start of the second Trump administration, the federal government has shuttled more than 40,000 people through immigration detention centers across Louisiana in an effort to make the state the "FedEx" of immigration enforcement, likening people to packages. These detentions have subjected staggering volumes of people to human rights abuses, including the denial of drinkable water, confinement in filthy conditions, withholding of basic medical care, and physical and sexual abuse. Americans across the country have taken to the streets protesting the Trump administration's cruel immigration policies. But opponents of those policies may be unwittingly supporting them. How? Through their investment portfolios. Profit Drives the Immigration Agenda The president's mass deportation agenda relies on an expansive immigration detention network run by for-profit companies, such as The GEO Group. After donating $1 million to the president's election campaign, GEO now expects Trump's cruel policies to boost its annual revenue by $400 million. If you have a retirement account, you may very well be invested in The GEO Group. For many of us, the default option in our retirement accounts is a target date fund, many of which invest in GEO Group and other for-profit prison companies. Among the top investors in GEO Group overall are several common index funds that you may hold. Those investments provide the resources that GEO Group uses to lock up hundreds of thousands of people each year. GEO Group maximizes profits by running virtual indentured labor camps and scrimping on basic health and safety measures, leading to poor medical care, inhumane conditions, and deaths. But these business practices aren't just ethically dubious. They create serious financial risks for investors in the form of costly legal and reputational liabilities. How To Divest From GEO Group—and Others That Profit off Detainees GEO Group—and other private prison operators like CoreCivic—benefit from our 401(k)s and other resources we place into index funds. If you are one of the many people shocked and appalled by our privately driven immigration system, or even if you're simply concerned about serious financial risks inherent in the private prison model, here are a few things you can do to keep your money from being used against your values: —The first thing to do is understand where your money is going. If you have a 401(k), pension or other institutional investment through index funds or similar, you should look closely at where, exactly, your money ends up. Your employer or broker can give you detailed information on which companies make up your investment portfolio. —Once you have a better understanding of your investments, you can make different choices with your money. Contact your financial service firm or brokerage account provider to see if it offers investment options that exclude private prison companies. —The real challenge is that many private prisons—like GEO Group and CoreCivic—are listed on the S&P 500, which includes the largest companies on the U.S. stock market. By investing in index funds that replicate the S&P 500, you are investing in all of the businesses included in it, including private prison companies. Convincing financial products companies to offer products that exclude private prisons will require a large amount of advocacy. In the meantime, investors can consider financial products like the FREE Index (FREEIN), a publicly available index that identifies and tracks companies who lead in fair chance hiring and disrupt the prison industrial complex, without sacrificing returns. Groups such as the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Prison Free Funds have also developed campaigns to divest from private prisons, including tools to support individuals to understand what is included in investment portfolios and offer other advocacy steps they can take. The Trump administration's cruel detention network ultimately relies on our financial support. Pulling our money from privatized immigration detention can help save lives, shut these inhumane detention centers down, and even contribute to more sustainable investment returns. Invest your money in ways that don't harm the causes you support. That, too, is using your voice for good. Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist, lawyer, and president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Alanah Odoms is the executive director of ACLU of Louisiana. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Northland Securities Reiterates a Buy Rating on The GEO Group (GEO), Sets a $42 PT
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) is one of the top NYSE stocks with the highest upside potential. On August 4, Northland Securities analyst Greg Gibas maintained a Buy rating on The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) and set a price target of $42.00. Security guards in uniforms patrolling an area, standing for the company's safe and secure facilities. In other news, The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) announced on July 28 that it completed the sale of its Lawton Correctional Facility located in Lawton, Oklahoma, to the State of Oklahoma for $312 million. It simultaneously transitioned the operations of the Lawton Facility to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) has plans to use the net proceeds from this sale for the acquisition of the 770-bed Western Region Detention Facility located in San Diego, California, in a like-kind real estate property exchange. The company also expects to 'pay off additional senior secured debt, including the remaining balance of the Term Loan B outstanding under the Company's recently amended Credit Agreement.' Management stated that the transactions are expected to bring The GEO Group, Inc.'s (NYSE:GEO) total net debt to approximately $1.47 billion, positioning the company to consider potential future capital returns. The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) designs, finances, develops, and supports services for processing centers, secure facilities, and community re-entry facilities. Its operations are divided into the following segments: US Secure, Electronic Monitoring and Supervision, Re-entry, and International Services. The US Secure Services segment comprises the US-based public-private partnership correction and detention segment, while the Electronic Monitoring and Supervision Services segment offers services in the US. The International Services segment offers public-private partnership secure services operations in South Africa and Australia, and the Re-entry Services Segment comprises various community-based and re-entry services. While we acknowledge the potential of GEO as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Geo Group (GEO) Falls 11.46% on Lower Earnings Outlook
We recently published . The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE:GEO) is one of the worst-performing stocks on Wednesday. The GEO Group slashed its share prices by 11.46 percent on Wednesday to close at $22.88 apiece as investors soured on the lower-than-expected earnings outlook for full-year 2025, shunning its impressive income performance in the second quarter of the year. In an updated report, The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE:GEO) raised its 2025 revenue target to $2.56 billion, up from the $2.53 billion guidance previously. However, analysts had expected $2.58 billion. Additionally, The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE:GEO) expects attributable net income to be in a range of $1.99 to $2.09 per diluted share, including a $228 million gain on the sale of its Lawton Facility. Adjusted EBITDA was pegged at $465 million to $490 million. In the second quarter of the year, The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE:GEO) swung to an attributable net income of $29 million from a $32.5 million net loss in the same period last year. Revenues grew by 4.8 percent to $636 million from $608 million year-on-year. Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash In the first half, attributable net income ended at $48.7 million, reversing a net loss of $9.8 million in the same comparable period. Revenues inched up by 2.5 percent to $1.24 billion from $1.21 billion year-on-year. While we acknowledge the potential of GEO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the . Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
26-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GEO Group (GEO) Gets Boost Ahead of Q2 Earnings
We recently published . The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) is one of the best-performing stocks on Friday. The GEO Group grew its share prices by 6.31 percent on Friday to close at $26.10 apiece as investors gobbled up shares ahead of the results of its second-quarter earnings performance. According to the company, it is scheduled to release its financial and operating highlights at 11 AM on Wednesday, August 6. An investor call will be held at the same time to elaborate on the results. Earlier this year, The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) said that it was targeting diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of the year to settle within the range of $0.15 to $0.17 on quarterly revenues of $615 million to $625 million. Adjusted EBITDA was also pegged at $110 million to $114 million. In other recent news, The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) announced the $60 million acquisition of a 770-bed Western Region Detention Facility in San Diego, which it currently leases for $5.1 million annually. Its original lease contract was supposed to expire in March 2029. The facility alone generates $57 million in revenues yearly. While we acknowledge the potential of GEO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the .
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Adelanto ICE Processing Center started the year with three detainees. Now, there are 1200
At the beginning of 2025, there were only three detainees in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. On Tuesday, June 17, there were 1,200 detaintees following the recent Los Angeles ICE raids. The private company that owns the Adelanto center, The GEO Group, announced in a June 10 press release, only days after the Los Angeles raids, that the U.S. District Court approved a settlement in the COVID-19 case of Roman v. Wolf, which ordered a pause on inmate intake due to the outbreak. The new ruling allows for immediate full intake at the 1,940-bed Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The Adelanto center wasted no time transferring inmates following the settlement and went from a nearly empty facility to an almost full one. At full occupancy, the Adelanto Center contract would generate approximately $31 million in additional annualized revenues for GEO, the group said in the press release, emphasizing the "importance" of the facility. California Representatives Judy Chu, Linda Sánchez, Mark Takano, Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Luz Rivas discovered additional information about the usually quiet Adelanto ICE Processing Center on their second visit to the facility this month. They were initially turned away from the ICE center on June 8, amid the controversial immigration sweeps throughout Southern California, which catalyzed national unrest and anti-ICE protests throughout the state. The conditions the California representatives say they found on June 17 echo the findings of a 2018 report, which revealed that the conditions inside the Adelanto facility were a "violation of federal standards." Congressmember Linda Sánchez said the conditions at the Adelanto compound were so horrible a few years ago that the federal courts "essentially said to shut it down." Not much has improved, Chu stated in a press conference outside of the Adelanto facility. She and her colleagues spoke to some of the detainees in their eight-person cells, many of whom were picked up in the Los Angeles raids. The people Chu spoke to revealed in a plea for help that they had not been given a change of clothes, underwear or towels in the 10 days they had been at the Adelanto compound. According to one of the detainees Sánchez spoke to, they were taken into custody in the morning and were not fed until 9 p.m. that night at the Adelanto facility. Additionally, inmates have yet to be given PINs for outgoing calls and have had no connection to the outside world, including lawyers, for more than a week. Congressman Mark Takano interviewed an asylee held at the Adelanto facility on Tuesday – someone here legally under U.S. asylum laws – who was picked up by ICE during his third appearance in immigration court in Santa Ana, "following his legal duty." He had no criminal record, Takano stated, yet his case was dismissed immediately, and he and his wife were arrested by ICE outside the courthouse. "This is a source of social unrest," Takano said in front of a crowd of protestors outside the ICE center pumping signs with slogans "GEO Kills" and "Shut down Adelanto" into the camera. He also spoke to detainees who were DACA recipients and inmates who had lived in California their entire lives but were nevertheless corralled into the back of an ICE van. ICE and GEO entered into a 15-year contract on Dec. 19, 2019. The current contract period is effective through Dec. 19, 2029. 'We believe the Adelanto Center plays an important role in helping ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fulfill their mission and operational priorities," stated George C. Zoley, GEO Group executive chairman He claims the ICE facility employs roughly 350 San Bernardino County employees who have allowed GEO to provide "high-quality support services" on behalf of ICE in the state of California. In Tuesday's press conference, however, Chu addressed the "inhumane conditions" employed by The GEO Group, which makes "a billion dollars" from the industry. She believes that GEO is the most profitable out of any private prison company in the United States. As per the first quarter 2025 financial highlights that The GEO Group has released, the company's revenues total $604.6 million thus far. Chu said there is no reason why such conditions await immigrants in the Adelanto center when it is owned by a billion-dollar company. "GEO has to clearly improve its treatment of these detainees," she said. A protest organized by the Victor Valley community dubbed "Defending Our Neighbors" will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility. Visit for more information. McKenna is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@ This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Adelanto ICE Processing Center now at 1200 detainees
