Delaney Hall, a GEO Group-owned facility in Newark, New Jersey, makes a useful case study precisely because its contract terms are unusually well documented: it was the first new ICE detention facility of the current administration, and it came with real public numbers attached from the start. It's one concrete example of the money flow we mapped out in who makes money when ICE detains someone, and of the company profiled in GEO Group and ICE: how immigration detention became a billion-dollar customer.
The Contract
Documented fact: In February 2025, GEO Group announced it had been awarded a 15-year contract by ICE for the company-owned, 1,000-bed Delaney Hall facility. GEO's own announcement stated the contract was expected to generate more than $60 million in annualized revenue in its first full year of operation, and estimated the total 15-year value of the contract, with standard cost-of-living adjustments, at approximately $1 billion. The facility opened May 1, 2025, and typically holds 900 or more detainees on a given day. GEO's contracted services include exclusive facility use by ICE, security, maintenance, food service, and access to recreational, medical, and legal-counsel services.
Delaney Hall, Newark, NJ
ICE Special Response Team members outside the GEO Group-operated facility, June 2026. Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What This Number Isn't
Interpretation, following this project's own rule: Dividing the $60 million annual figure by 1,000 beds produces roughly $164 per bed per day — but we're not presenting that as GEO's official per-diem rate, because the $60 million figure is total annualized contract revenue, which may include fixed costs, services, and guaranteed-minimum provisions beyond a simple per-detainee daily rate. Readers should treat any such back-of-envelope division as illustrative of scale, not as an official contractual per-diem number, which GEO's public announcement did not itself disclose. For more on how guaranteed-minimum clauses work elsewhere in this system, see does ICE pay even when detention centers aren't full?
GEO Group Headquarters, Boca Raton, FL
The publicly traded, Florida-based company that owns and operates Delaney Hall. Photo: Eflatmajor7th, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Local Context
Documented fact: The facility's opening drew public opposition from Newark and New Jersey officials, and was accompanied by litigation over permits and inspections, according to contemporaneous local reporting. That controversy is about land use, permitting, and local government authority — a separate issue from the federal contract terms themselves, which is this piece's specific focus.
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A single 15-year, roughly $1 billion contract for one facility is the kind of number that deserves a sticker as pointed as the reality it describes. Part of our pro immigrant collection.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Delaney Hall representative of all ICE detention contracts?
It's one well-documented example, not a universal template — contract structures, per-diem rates, and terms vary by facility and operator, some of which are covered elsewhere in this cluster. Readers should treat the figures in this piece as one detailed, well-documented case study rather than as a stand-in for every ICE detention contract's terms.
Does GEO Group own the land, or just operate the facility?
Per GEO's own announcement, Delaney Hall is a company-owned facility, meaning GEO holds the property itself in addition to operating it under the ICE contract. That distinction matters because a company-owned facility represents a more durable, long-term financial asset for GEO than a leased or government-owned facility it merely operates under contract.
Was this contract competitively bid?
We did not find GEO's or ICE's public materials specifying the procurement method for this particular contract in the sourcing reviewed for this piece; broader reporting on 2025 ICE contracting practices, covered in follow an ICE dollar: from Congress to private contractor, does raise questions about competitive bidding generally.
"Ice Would Cage Jesus Too" Sticker
900-plus people held on a given day, generating $60 million a year for one company — this design says plainly what a lot of people are thinking about facilities like Delaney Hall.
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Related Reading
Guaranteed Beds: Does ICE Pay Even When Detention Centers Aren't Full?: explains the contract clauses that sit alongside deals like Delaney Hall's.
GEO Group and ICE: How Immigration Detention Became a Billion-Dollar Customer: Delaney Hall in the context of GEO's full ICE business.
"Private Companies Don't Really Profit From Immigration Enforcement.": a single $1 billion contract is hard to square with that claim.
Sources: The GEO Group, Inc., "The GEO Group Awarded 15-Year Contract by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Company-Owned, 1,000-Bed Delaney Hall Facility in New Jersey," investor press release, Feb. 26, 2025; CBS New York, "Newark, New Jersey facility begins housing detained migrants, prompting outrage from officials"; New Jersey Globe, reporting on the facility's opening amid litigation.
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