Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is calling out the Trump administration for what she described as a massive financial windfall for private prison companies running immigration detention centers, including the recently reopened Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.
The progressive lawmaker took to Instagram Live on Sunday to highlight concerns over the facility’s permits and the influence of political donations.
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“There is a dispute over, a lot of people don’t know, like the reason that this altercation even happened is because that facility, I don’t even believe has a certificate, has not even been given a certificate of occupancy by the city of Newark yet,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And so there’s a dispute, I believe, over whether that facility even has the proper clearances to even open or operate.”
Ocasio-Cortez also called out the companies behind these facilities, including CoreCivic (NYSE:CXW) and GEO Group (NYSE:GEO), accusing them of prioritizing profits over humane conditions for detainees.
“These are private prison companies, for-profit corporations. And that is the reason why the conditions in a lot of these detention facilities are so horrible,” she said. “It’s not because of some like, oh, you know, any sort of federal law. It’s the opposite. It’s because the Trump administration is funneling money to private prison companies.”
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She noted that these companies have financially benefited since the election. “This is what it’s all about,” she said. “You can literally look up the stock prices for GeoGroup and CoreCivic and look at their stock prices since the election.”
GEO Group’s stock has surged from $15.13 on Nov. 5 to $26.48 on Nov. 11, while CoreCivic’s climbed from $13.63 to $23.94 over the same period.
The controversy over Delaney Hall escalated on Friday when Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, was arrested outside the facility. Federal prosecutors charged Baraka with trespassing after he reportedly ignored warnings from federal agents, Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, posted on X.
