As globalists in California continued making “private prisons financially infeasible,” a federal measure with a $1.5 billion price tag was met with cries of corruption.
Whether by judicial or physical obstruction, Democrats have remained unrelenting in their mission to keep illegal aliens coming to the United States and staying here. In an effort to stave off sanctuary state impediments, the Department of Homeland Security completed its purchase of two detention centers with a combined capacity of over 4,500 beds.
At a total purchase price of approximately $1.5 billion made possible by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the federal government bought both the California City Detention Facility and the Otay Mesa Detention Center from the Tennessee-based CoreCivic.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a DHS spokesperson said the purchase “was made possible by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that allowed ICE to expand detention space to fulfill the president’s promise of mass deportations.”
“Unlike in states like Florida and Oklahoma, ICE cannot rely on local state and county partners for detention space in California. The state’s sanctuary politicians continue to push legislation to outlaw or make private prisons financially infeasible,” remarked the spokesperson. “Now, with federal ownership of these detention centers, which are crucial to ICE’s detention network on the West Coast, ICE retains the detention capacity needed to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens.”
Under existing contracts, set to expire in August 2027 and December 2029 respectively, CoreCivic is expected to continue managing the facilities unless DHS opts “to terminate the management contracts for non-appropriation of funds or for convenience.”
Speaking on behalf of CoreCivic, public affairs senior director Ryan Gustin told ABC 10News, “Both facilities were purpose-built, specifically designed to care for individuals in a secure environment. Asset transactions of this nature are not uncommon for government.”
“We have previously completed facility sales to government partners, and operating government-owned facilities is a well-established model within our business,” he went on as discussions were underway about the potential sale of other detention facilities owned by CoreCivic.
Despite that, California Rep. Mike Levin (D) leveled allegations of corruption against the president regarding CoreCivic’s inclusion on Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure.
“His administration decides how many billions of dollars flow to CoreCivic. When CoreCivic’s stock rises on a government decision, the president personally benefits,” asserted the lawmaker.
Last week, the Trump administration spent $1.5 billion of your taxpayer money to buy two immigration detention centers in California from a private prison company called CoreCivic. The deal closed on July 2.
The government now owns the Otay Mesa facility in San Diego County and…
— Mike Levin (@MikeLevin) July 7, 2026
“A president should never be able to enrich himself through a choice his own government makes,” continued Levin. “That is the entire reason conflict of interest rules exist in the first place. Every modern president before this one either sold off their holdings or used a real blind trust to put a wall between the Oval Office and their portfolio. Trump did neither, and holds stakes in dozens of companies that carry federal contracts, from defense firms to detention operators, and his administration keeps directing public money toward them.”
Absent from Levin’s demonization was the fact that while the president’s financial disclosure listed CoreCivic on a list with hundreds of businesses just one of Trump’s investment accounts includes, the posted income was listed as “None (or less than $201).”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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