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ICE and Human Trafficking for Profit: Let’s Call It What It Is

The Truth We Must Name There is a sickness in our nation we can no longer sanitize with polite language: The United States government—through ICE, through its contracts with private prison corporations, through its policies driven by profit is participating in human trafficking. Yes, I said it. And I will keep saying it. When human…

The Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv.
3–5 minutes
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The Truth We Must Name

There is a sickness in our nation we can no longer sanitize with polite language:

The United States government—through ICE, through its contracts with private prison corporations, through its policies driven by profit is participating in human trafficking.

Yes, I said it. And I will keep saying it.

When human beings are hunted, captured, transported, and detained for the profit of corporations and investors, it is trafficking, no matter what flag flies over the buildings or how much legal jargon is stamped on the paperwork.

What Human Trafficking Really Means And Why This Fits

The United Nations’ Palermo Protocol defines trafficking as:

“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, for the purpose of exploitation.”

Now apply that definition to ICE:

  • Transportation & Transfer: ICE agents conduct militarized raids, pulling people from homes, schools, and workplaces, then transferring them often across state lines—to remote detention centers.
  • Abuse of Power: These are asylum seekers and migrants, often fleeing violence, detained in squalid conditions with limited legal recourse.
  • Exploitation: Every body fills a “bed quota”—a system where corporations are paid per detained person, per day.

If a cartel did this, we would prosecute it. The only difference is that this trafficking is sanctioned by the State.

The Profit Motive: Follow the Money

This isn’t about “national security.” It’s about revenue.

  • GEO Group and CoreCivic – the two largest private prison corporations received billions in federal contracts to run detention centers. These contracts often include “guaranteed minimums” or bed quotas, ensuring a steady flow of detained migrants Source: OpenSecrets.
  • In 2024 alone, GEO Group spent $1.38 million on federal lobbying, while CoreCivic spent $1.77 million to influence immigration enforcement policy Source: OpenSecrets.
  • Tom Homan, now the U.S. “border czar,” disclosed earning more than $5,000 in consulting fees from GEO Care before his January 2025 appointment and is now spearheading policies to expand detention capacity to 100,000 beds Source: Washington Post.
  • Daniel Ragsdale, former Deputy ICE Director, joined GEO as an Executive VP in 2017 and was promoted to Senior VP of Contract Administration & Compliance on January 1, 2025, earning compensation in the range of $1.18 million annually Source: SEC Proxy.

This is a business model where human suffering directly increases corporate revenue and investor returns.

Historical Parallels: We’ve Seen This Before

This is not new. It is a continuation of America’s legacy of turning suffering into profit:

  • Convict Leasing (Post-Civil War): Black men were arrested en masse and leased to corporations legalized slavery under another name.
  • Japanese Internment Camps: Private companies profited from wartime detention while families were stripped of their homes and dignity.
  • Nazi Labor Camps: Different in scale, but driven by the same logic: bodies as revenue streams.

ICE’s detention-for-profit system is simply a new face of an old sin.

The Gospel Calls This Sin by Its Name

Scripture doesn’t mince words:

  • “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights.” — Isaiah 10:1–2
  • “They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.” — Amos 2:6
  • “I was a stranger and you did not welcome me… I was in prison and you did not visit me.” — Matthew 25:43

Christ is in those detention centers. Every child wailing in a cage is Christ. Every tear on a concrete floor is His tear.

To profit from their suffering is to sell Christ for silver.

This Is Human Trafficking

Strip away the euphemisms:

  • People are captured, transported, caged, and monetized.
  • Politicians, investors, and former ICE officials are making money when human suffering increases.
  • The only difference between ICE and traffickers is paperwork.

The Church’s Call

If we claim to follow Jesus, we cannot remain silent.
We must:

  • Name this for what it is: trafficking.
  • Resist it with holy boldness.
  • Offer sanctuary, advocacy, and prayer that shakes the gates of Empire.

Because one day, God will ask us what we did when America turned migrants into commodities.

And His words will echo still:

“Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me.”

📢 Call to Action

This is not a time for quiet faith. It is a time for action. Share this truth. Confront your representatives. Support sanctuary movements. Follow organizations fighting detention profiteering. And pray, not for comfort, but for courage to resist.

The Gospel is not neutral. Neither should we be.

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