The appointment of Thomas Homan as Donald Trump's "border czar" has led private prison stocks to soar even further. On Monday, shares of The Geo Group rose over 6%, and those of CoreCivic climbed nearly 8%, fueled by investor expectations of increased demand for detention services and stricter immigration enforcement under Trump's upcoming administration.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), would be in charge of deporting illegal immigrants and overseeing U.S. border security. This includes both the southern and northern borders, as well as maritime and air security.
Thomas Homan is no stranger to Donald Trump's immigration policies. He is credited as being behind the Family Separation Policy, which was condemned by the United Nations as a human rights violation from its inception. The policy was then reversed.
Homan had already said during an event in July that he would lead "the largest deportation operation the country has ever seen" if Trump were re-elected.
Homan continued to gain notoriety during the Biden administration, especially for being one of the main authors behind Project 2025, the document which many believe to be the policy blueprint for his second term in office. Even though Trump himself has publicly claimed not to know who was behind the project, he did keep tabs on Homan as he went as far as to say back in October that the former ICE head would be a part of his team if elected.
Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at BTIG, told clients that Trump's return to the White House could open the door to more contracts with agencies like the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to NBC News. He also highlighted that a second Trump administration would likely take a much more aggressive approach to border enforcement, which would benefit companies like Geo Group and CoreCivic that are involved in immigration detention.
"Investors will embrace Geo Group and CoreCivic more firmly with the return of Trump," Boltansky said in his November 6 note, pointing to potential growth in business related to ICE's operations.
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