On Monday, private prison stocks saw significant gains after Donald Trump, the president-elect, announced that Tom Homan would be his new “border czar”. Homan is a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement head.
Geo Group’s pre-market trade saw a gain of nearly 8%, while CoreCivic was up by more than 4%.
Homan will be overseeing immigration enforcement along the Southern and Northern borders as well as maritime security and aviation safety.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that Homan would be “in charge of the Deportation of Illegal Aliens to their Country of Origin”. Homan is a strong advocate of stricter immigration laws and has promised to carry out the biggest deportation in US history, should Trump return to office.
CNBC quotes analysts who predict that Homan’s appointment will lead to a further increase in private prisons.
Isaac Boltansky is an analyst with BTIG. He highlighted to his clients in a November 6, 2016 note that Trump’s second term will likely bring a stronger border enforcement stance, benefiting firms such as Geo Group and CoreCivic in particular in their ICE related operations.
Trump is expected to extend contracts with US Marshals Services, and Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Tom Homan: Who is he?
Homan was known as the champion of Trump’s immigration policy of “zero-tolerance” during his first tenure. He was also at the heart of the controversial policies that resulted in the separation of thousands migrant families from their children at detention centres.
Homan, despite the negative reaction to his plans for mass deportations in Trump’s future agenda, has tried to minimize the impact of these potential consequences.
He said in a CBS News interview that the families will be sent to detention camps together. This was to dispel fears about neighborhood sweeps and “concentration camp”-style conditions.
The role of Trump as border czar is significant, even though specifics about the border enforcement strategy are still unclear.
Deportations will require significant funding, and the international community’s cooperation.
Trump’s allies, however, have said that the Trump administration would quickly reverse President Joe Biden’s immigration policies by using executive power to tighten up asylum application routes.
Trump will likely concentrate his power in the White House with loyal appointees, giving them broad authority to influence government agencies and push Trump’s agenda.
Homan was given the title of “border czar”, after Trump and Republicans had used it to criticize Kamala Harris for her handling of immigration issues in the 2016 campaign. They accused Harris of not addressing the root causes behind migrations from Central America.
As new information becomes available, this post may change.
