CALIFORNIA — CoreCivic sold two immigration detention facilities to the U.S. federal government for $1.47 billion on July 2, 2026. The company will continue to manage both properties under existing contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The facilities sold were the 2,560-bed California City Detention Facility in California City and the 1,994-bed Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. CoreCivic indicated that contract terms for managing these facilities might be renegotiated now that the federal government owns them. CoreCivic is also in ongoing discussions with ICE regarding the provision of additional detention facilities.

CoreCivic Public Affairs Senior Director Ryan Gustin stated that the facility valuations were determined through the federal government's required appraisal process, which is designed to determine objective fair market value. Gustin added, "For these specialized properties, independent appraisers used a transparent cost-based methodology grounded in current replacement cost, depreciation, land value and other market-based factors, with the appraisals then reviewed by the government for compliance with federal standards."

The Trump administration is pursuing the "ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative," a plan valued at more than $38 billion to increase ICE detention capacity and reduce reliance on privately owned prisons. As part of this initiative, additional warehouses have been purchased in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Maryland. In June 2026, ICE planned to sell or transfer seven of the 11 industrial warehouses it had bought to convert into prisons.

President Donald Trump's 2025 financial disclosure reveals he owns stock in CoreCivic, with purchases beginning in February 2025. His disclosure also shows stock ownership in GEO Group, another private corrections company, with share purchases initiated 10 days after his inauguration. GEO Group's net income increased from $31.9 million in 2024 to $254.3 million in 2025, and its first-quarter 2026 earnings rose 17 percent year-over-year. CoreCivic's full-year income increased approximately 69 percent to $116.5 million.