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Immigration Detention Inc.: The Big Business of Locking up Migrants
The United States has the most extensive immigration detention system in the world, expanding from a capacity of less than 5,000 detainees per day in the 1980s to 52,000 by 2019. While the most vociferous anti-immigrant rhetoric may be attributed to Republicans, US detention infrastructure has grown exponentially regardless of the political party in power, as reports of abysmal detention conditions pile up.
Nancy Hiemstra and Deirdre Conlon provide a damning exposé of the ways immigration detention generates income while those detained are starved, sickened, and exploited as a matter of routine detention operation. Drawing on over a decade of research and focusing on detention centers in New Jersey and New York, the authors map public-private financial relationships and trace how detention contracts for food, medical care, and in-facility stores are fought over to the penny. By dissecting the inner workings of immigration detention, they show a system governed by a capitalist logic that produces sickening and corrupting dependencies in communities across the US.
Coming at a pivotal social and political moment, Immigration Detention Inc. makes the case for dismantling immigration detention regimes everywhere.
Nancy Hiemstra and Deirdre Conlon provide a damning exposé of the ways immigration detention generates income while those detained are starved, sickened, and exploited as a matter of routine detention operation. Drawing on over a decade of research and focusing on detention centers in New Jersey and New York, the authors map public-private financial relationships and trace how detention contracts for food, medical care, and in-facility stores are fought over to the penny. By dissecting the inner workings of immigration detention, they show a system governed by a capitalist logic that produces sickening and corrupting dependencies in communities across the US.
Coming at a pivotal social and political moment, Immigration Detention Inc. makes the case for dismantling immigration detention regimes everywhere.
- GenresNonfiction
230 pages, Paperback
Published June 20, 2025
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217 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 7, 2025
Of course extremely timely and yet already outdated. The biggest fear described in the end is the financing for scaling of detention and deportation by Trump, which they didn't see happening. With the recent passing of the spending bill (July 2025) they got all the money and even more. Infusing that much money will strengthen the net of companies and 'stakeholders' in detaining immigrants for years to come. This book details how this happened and the uncountable dependencies. One can only look grimly to the future here.
November 3, 2025
I’ve read some about the abuses of the American carceral system and have long suspected that immigrant detention was also a cash cow for private companies. Providers can keep costs low by providing subpar services to detainees since their customers, the detention facilities, prioritize cost over quality. They increase revenue by lobbying to increase detention numbers through stricter laws.
This book goes through some of the major detention service providers (catering, healthcare, accreditors) and shows how they take advantage of the system. I was hoping that there would be information on transportation costs because so many people being detained by ICE are immediately sent across the county. Since private companies are likely involved I’d be curious to know how much they profit from flying detainees around the country.
Unfortunately, and maybe this is inevitable given the source material, it can be quite dry and it often felt like reading a spreadsheet. Furthermore, it is already feels dated. The afterword written a month into Trump’s second term details some of the hottest issues of the moment, but so much has happened since then that it already feels like ancient history.
I’m pro-immigrant and while I believe detention may be necessary in some cases, it is clear that they need to be adequately fed and cared for until they are released or deported. That may be an expensive proposition, but that is an argument for it be used sparingly.
I also think Trump supporters might start to balk when they realize the true cost of the immigrant crackdown. $30 billion for ICE is too big a number to comprehend. I’d like to know what they spent arresting and detaining Rümeysa Öztürk for writing an op-ed on Palestine. There were multiple cars and masked agents, she was transported and detained for 6 weeks (not to mention defending the arrest in courts). I’m guessing that operation cost many thousands of dollars. Is that where anybody wants their tax dollars to go? Moreover is that the America we want to live in?
This book goes through some of the major detention service providers (catering, healthcare, accreditors) and shows how they take advantage of the system. I was hoping that there would be information on transportation costs because so many people being detained by ICE are immediately sent across the county. Since private companies are likely involved I’d be curious to know how much they profit from flying detainees around the country.
Unfortunately, and maybe this is inevitable given the source material, it can be quite dry and it often felt like reading a spreadsheet. Furthermore, it is already feels dated. The afterword written a month into Trump’s second term details some of the hottest issues of the moment, but so much has happened since then that it already feels like ancient history.
I’m pro-immigrant and while I believe detention may be necessary in some cases, it is clear that they need to be adequately fed and cared for until they are released or deported. That may be an expensive proposition, but that is an argument for it be used sparingly.
I also think Trump supporters might start to balk when they realize the true cost of the immigrant crackdown. $30 billion for ICE is too big a number to comprehend. I’d like to know what they spent arresting and detaining Rümeysa Öztürk for writing an op-ed on Palestine. There were multiple cars and masked agents, she was transported and detained for 6 weeks (not to mention defending the arrest in courts). I’m guessing that operation cost many thousands of dollars. Is that where anybody wants their tax dollars to go? Moreover is that the America we want to live in?
September 30, 2025
A good exposition of all of the horrible tenticles in immigration detention and how so many forces are pigs at the trough of human mysery. It's jarring and horrible how bad the conditions are for detainees, but sadly it's already dated even though it's less than a year old. One thing Hiemstra and so many miss is that it's not some big prifit making enterprise for the government, but rather a political decision to invest so much money into the border and immigration machine. I think that's why her solutions are somewhat limited and dated as Trump continues to expand the horrors of the system. Worth a read for those wanting to get a better understanding of the economics and mechanics of the particular system and neoliberal carceral regimes in general.
December 21, 2025
chapter on detention commisaries and forced detainee labor eye-opening on how county governments profit from the detention industrial complex
July 26, 2025
A harrowing, meticulously documented trek through the nausea-inducing realities of "Immigration Detention Inc."
America has made a business of placing immigrants in detention. Democrats and Conservatives alike. We're now all hearing about a tiny smidgen of what's going on, what with the new Trump administration entering and wreaking havoc. But there's so much more going on, and has been for a long time.
Confining people costs money. This has led to a number of entities vying for control of the "industry" that results on all fronts: food, medical, housing, facilities, infrastructure ... you name it, there's likely a business built around it. The government of course goes with the cheapest option. And that means cheap or ultimately no care or quality for immigrants themselves.
Confined people can also be coerced or forced into making money, mostly for others. I was stunned that a law from 1950 limiting the pay to $1.00 a day is still in place. Fair Labor Standards has utterly failed. Then again, this whole system is a failure.
After breaking it all down, Hiemstra and Conlon make a compelling case: the only reason detention continues to exist is because it's a business. Not only that, but big business. People are making a killing off of killing off the humanity of people. Same ol' game in a new package that the average American is sure to be ignorant about.
"Every stakeholder, whether directly or indirectly, winds up with a vested interest in maintaining—and even expanding—carceral industries."
The authors even managed to sneak in breaking news and cases before publication. I was extremely impressed by the liberal use of sources, evidence, and clear prose.
This whole situation is clearly disgusting. What remains unclear is what to do about it. Before Democrats raise a hand, note that Biden was also in on it, as was Obama ... everyone in America is potentially implicated by this system. So what are you going to do about it? I hope the answer is not "look the other way."
Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Pluto Press for the advance copy.
America has made a business of placing immigrants in detention. Democrats and Conservatives alike. We're now all hearing about a tiny smidgen of what's going on, what with the new Trump administration entering and wreaking havoc. But there's so much more going on, and has been for a long time.
Confining people costs money. This has led to a number of entities vying for control of the "industry" that results on all fronts: food, medical, housing, facilities, infrastructure ... you name it, there's likely a business built around it. The government of course goes with the cheapest option. And that means cheap or ultimately no care or quality for immigrants themselves.
Confined people can also be coerced or forced into making money, mostly for others. I was stunned that a law from 1950 limiting the pay to $1.00 a day is still in place. Fair Labor Standards has utterly failed. Then again, this whole system is a failure.
After breaking it all down, Hiemstra and Conlon make a compelling case: the only reason detention continues to exist is because it's a business. Not only that, but big business. People are making a killing off of killing off the humanity of people. Same ol' game in a new package that the average American is sure to be ignorant about.
"Every stakeholder, whether directly or indirectly, winds up with a vested interest in maintaining—and even expanding—carceral industries."
The authors even managed to sneak in breaking news and cases before publication. I was extremely impressed by the liberal use of sources, evidence, and clear prose.
This whole situation is clearly disgusting. What remains unclear is what to do about it. Before Democrats raise a hand, note that Biden was also in on it, as was Obama ... everyone in America is potentially implicated by this system. So what are you going to do about it? I hope the answer is not "look the other way."
Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Pluto Press for the advance copy.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews