It's hard to believe this is The United States. I hesitate to call it that anymore because we are anything but united. I never would have dreamed we would have concentration camps in our country and that we would be fighting fascism. Yet, here we are.
Sadly, Georgia, where I live, will soon have one of the largest ICE Processing Center (Concentration Camp) in the country. It will be in Folkston, Georgia in Charlton County, near the Florida border.
There has been an ICE center there since 2017 with 1100 beds, but it will be expanding to around 3,000 beds. The AJC says the expansion will go from 780 to 3,018. The city of Folkston (population 4,464) will receive $600,000 a year in revenue from water and sewer services, but that's the tip of the iceberg. Every article I read seemed very proud of how much money and how many jobs it would bring to the area and they all touted different figures.
There are plenty of folks to contact about this concentration camp, so I'm going to divide it up into 3 posts.
In this first post, I will focus on the company that runs the facility - Geo Group, Inc.
The facility is run by The Geo Group and is one of 20 for-profit ICE detention centers they run. Even though they are accused of many violations, they were awarded the expansion. - ICE finds violations at Folkston detention center but continues to contract with The GEO Group
In 2024, the GEO Group reported $2.4 billion in revenue. The AJC says "by some estimates, Folkston's immigration detention center is expected to create an estimated economic impact of $42 million for the region and $21 million in revenue for Geo." These people don't seem to be bothered that their money will be made off the suffering of others.
It's very disheartening to think our tax dollars are being used to fund this travesty.
The Geo-Group, Inc
https://www.geogroup.com/facilities/world-headquarters/
J. David Donahue
4955 Technology Way
Boca Raton, FL 33431-3367
(561) 893-0101
I get the impression this is another case of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." You give me your support and some big fat donations and I'll give you a business opportunity that will make you loads of money.
Geo Group donates to lots of politicians (Republican and Dem) in Georgia
Geo Group donations - Open Secrets Click the heading, AMOUNT, to sort from highest to lowest. Geo definitely knows where their bread is buttered. Click by date to sort from most recent (you may need to click twice). Scroll down a bit and you'll see some Democrats, too, mostly in Georgia.
- "Pam Bondi, the U.S. Attorney General, is a former GEO Group lobbyist." She is connected to so many heinous things.
- ""The company is under contract with ICE for 16,000 beds, which Donahue said is “the highest level of utilization in over five years.”
- "ICE has just under 48,000 beds nationwide, and the agency estimates that the Laken Riley Act could require as many as 110,000 additional beds." - Remember, Ossify and Warnock both voted with Republicans FOR The Laken Riley Act!!!
- "GEO Group has approximately 3,000 beds available to facilities currently under contract with the U.S. Marshals Service and is in “active discussions” with ICE and the Marshals Service about another 6,500 beds."
- "ICE also awarded the company a 15-year contract worth an estimated $1 billion to reopen Delaney Hall, an immigrant lock-up in Newark, New Jersey. "
Geo Group (GEO) wants to cash in on Trump’s immigration crackdown
- "Donahue noted that Geo Group was awarded a 15-year contract in Q1 by ICE to provide a federal immigration processing center at its 1,000-bed facility in New Jersey. The contract could generate $60 million in annualized revenues, according to Donahue."
- "The company is also negotiating a multi-year contract with ICE to provide similar services at its 1,800-bed facility in Michigan, which Donahue said could generate in excess of $70 million in annualized revenues."
- "Once these are secured, Donahue said the total revenue from its work with ICE could generate annual revenues of $500 million to $600 million."
- Geo Group’s GPS tracking technology is also being heavily utilized by ICE to track down immigrants, making the company one of the “big business winners” of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, according to The New York Times."
- "Geo Group’s role in the Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown has gotten blowback from liberal lawmakers in the U.S., including Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who accused the administration of “funneling money to private prison companies.”"
It's also interesting that just before Trump took office, Geo-Group had a major CEO change. Corporate news was already talking about setting up detention centers at that point. So, I wondered, who is this new CEO, and what is his connection to the people in power?
James David Donahue
J. David Donahue, with over 40 years of experience in corrections, replaced Brian Evans as CEO of Geo Group, effective January 1, 2025, under a two-year contract with a $1 million annual salary and additional benefits. Trump had won at that point and they knew the corruption camp business was about to take off.
I couldn't find much about J David's personal life. I looked and looked. All that I found were articles about his work profile. I highly suspect someone with skills had scrubbed the internet clean of all traces of his personal details. All that's left is work-related. This guy flies under the radar.
I did find his age - 65 - on an SEC filing and felt like I'd won the search engine lottery. Unfortunately for me, the filing showed David "has no family relationships required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 401(d) of Regulation S-K."
Geo Group CEO Evans to retire, Donahue named successor
Wallstreet Journal profile of Donahue - this site also lists other execs at Geo Group