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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer looks on during an operation in Escondido, California.
Sludge produces investigative journalism on lobbying and money in politics. The American Prospect is re-publishing this article.
On July 24, Senators Chuck Grassley and Richard Blumnethal sent a letter to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asking for more information on its reported rampant use of solitary confinement. A joint investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Intercept, and NBC News unearthed more than 8,400 reports of immigrants being placed in solitary confinement from 2012 to early 2017.
The Trump administration's increasingly harsh immigration policies have amplified many other alleged abuses, including sexual assault, family trauma, and hate.
On the heels of interactive reports on CBP vendors and 2018 ICE contractors, Sludge has now produced an up-to-date analysis of ICE vendors. From 2010 to July 29, 2019, more than 3,200 contractors received over $12.7 billion worth of ICE contracts. Some ICE vendors help transport and jail undocumented immigrants, while others provide products, technical assistance, consulting, cleaning, utilities, and other services.
Among the companies and parent companies that have gotten the most money from ICE since 2010 are private prison giants GEO Group ($2.2 billion) and CoreCivic ($879 million); charter jet firm CSI Aviation Services ($909 million); consulting firms Deloitte ($249 million), Booz Allen Hamilton ($148 million), and McKinsey & Co. ($26.3 million); consumer products companies Dell ($52.9 million), Sprint ($43.1 million), U.S. Bancorp ($37.5 million), Microsoft ($14.6 million), and furniture seller Price Modern ($14.6 million); and Johns Hopkins University ($5.9 million).
Use the map below to view ICE contractors headquartered in your state. Hover over the marks, and contractors' names will appear after a momentary delay.
A public spreadsheet of the full data set, cleaned and analyzed by Sludge, is available here.
Firms Face Blowback
Employees of some ICE contractors are not pleased with their companies' decisions. In July 2018, consulting giant McKinsey & Company told The New York Times that it would end its work for ICE following considerable unrest among employees and alumni. But records show it began a new contract on Sept. 28, 2018, which lasts through late September of 2019.
Also last year, employees at consulting competitor Deloitte, who were upset about ICE's practice of separating immigrant families, began calling on executives to end the firm's ICE contracts, but the company continues its relationship with ICE. On June 17, Deloitte signed its latest ICE contract, worth $1.6 million for “professional analytical support services” at its Pacific Enforcement Response Center. Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte & Touche LP have a combined $100 million in ongoing contracts with the agency.
Sludge recently revealed that both Deloitte and McKinsey have also had recent contracts with CBP. Most recently, on May 3, Deloitte began four contracts with CBP worth nearly $21 million.
Here are all of the ICE contractors on file with usaspending.gov since 2010.
Most contractors are owned by parent companies. Below are these parent companies, ranked in descending order of total ICE payments since 2010.
ICE Vendors in the Trump Era
Since early 2017, when Trump took office, 1,020 companies and government entities have received over $3.3 billion from ICE in exchange for goods and services.
