DHS Buys Four Jails in California for $950 Million



DHS photo by Tia Dufour via Flickr

by Mariane Angela 5 Oct 2026

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased an immigration detention complex in Southern California for $950 million, adding to the Trump administration’s acquisitions of facilities used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

GEO Group announced the sale Monday. The deal includes Adelanto East, Adelanto West, and the Desert View Annex. The three facilities have a combined 2,644 beds.

Adelanto East and West together form the 1,940-bed Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The Desert View Annex has another 704 beds.

The purchase follows the administration’s acquisition of four CoreCivic detention facilities for more than $2.2 billion, as Breitbart News reported in August.

DHS paid $734 million for the 1,600-bed Prairie Correctional Facility in Minnesota and the 1,033-bed Midwest Regional Reception Center in Kansas. That deal followed a $1.5 billion purchase of the California City Detention Facility and Otay Mesa Detention Center in California.

CoreCivic is expected to keep operating all four facilities through its existing ICE agreements after the federal government took ownership.

DHS previously said buying the California properties would help protect ICE’s detention network from state officials’ efforts to restrict private detention facilities.

Congress approved $45 billion for immigration detention last year through President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, providing funding for the administration’s purchases.

Under the Adelanto deal, GEO will transfer the properties to the federal government but expects to continue operating them through its ICE contract.

The current contract term ends Dec. 19, 2029. A five-year option could extend the agreement through Dec. 19, 2034.

The Florida-based company is also pursuing sales of other facilities to ICE. Those transactions would depend on an agreed price and GEO retaining long-term contracts to operate the properties. The company said no final agreements or firm closing dates are in place for additional sales.

The company plans to continue supporting the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts.

George C. Zoley, GEO’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and founder, said:

We are pleased with the completion of these important asset sales to the U.S. federal government, and we look forward to continuing to provide high-quality secure support services under our existing long-term contracts with ICE. We are proud of our 40-year public-private partnership with ICE, and we stand ready to continue to assist the federal government in meeting its immigration enforcement priorities. We remain focused on allocating capital to enhance long-term value for shareholders, including through share repurchases.

During an August shareholder call, Zoley said ICE was considering buying more than ten facilities and that the number could increase.

He explained that GEO considers ownership of the buildings and the work of operating them separate parts of its business. The company wants to sell properties while keeping the service contracts.

“We are pursuing a potential sale of the buildings, but we want to retain the business,” Zoley told shareholders.

https://www.breitbart.com/immigratio...s-950-million/