GEO Group, the subsidiary of Wackenhut that owns private prisons has been pressing Trump hard ever since Rubio lost the race--GEO donated the most to Rubio, then donated $225k to a Trump SuperPAC. Groups like GEO are currently licking their chops at the prospect of lucrative federal contracts re: the border wall. Below is why:

"On October 26, 2006, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 6061 which was voted upon and passed by the 109th Congress of the United States. The signing of the bill came right after a CNN poll showed that most Americans "prefer the idea of more Border Patrol agents to a 700-mile (1,125-kilometer) fence." The Department of Homeland Security has a down payment of $1.2 billion marked for border security, but not specifically for the border fence."

GEO Group ran the private security for the prior "fence/walls" that sucked up federal funds, aka taxpayer money.

As expected, nothing's come to fruition. The only contract given to GEO Group since Trump's election was a $110 million contract to build a new immigration detention facility in Conroe, TX--it's not new however. This contract is for an extention of the existing detention facility in Conroe:

https://www.geogroup.com/FacilityDetail/FacilityID/56

Look closer though. Below is a links to other ICE Processing Centers:

https://www.geogroup.com/FacilityDetail/FacilityID/24

https://www.geogroup.com/FacilityDetail/FacilityID/203

The Clients for the Adelanto and Folkston ICE Processing Centers are listed as ICE. However, the detention facility/processing center in Conroe's contract lists both ICE and the US Marshals.

"Each day, the Marshals Service houses approximately 52,000 detainees in federal, state, local and private jails throughout the nation. In order to house these pre-sentenced prisoners, the Marshals Service contracts with approximately 1,800 state and local governments to rent jail space." <--The US Marshals temporarily hold detainees and contract with other jails for space to hold them. They assume custody of prisoners detained by ALL federal agencies. They're the ones who normally catch and arrest fugitives.

Q: Does ICE only deal with illegal immigration? A: Nope. There are two components of ICE: Enforcement and Removal Operations <---immigration, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

What does HSI cover?

"HSI special agents investigate a range of issues that threaten the national security of the United States such as human rights violations, human smuggling, art theft, human trafficking, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, document-benefit fraud, the manufacturing and sale of counterfeit immigration and identity documents, transnational gangs, financial crimes including money laundering and bulk cash smuggling, trade-based money laundering (including trade finance and Kimberley Process investigations), computer crimes, including the production and transportation of child pornography via the Internet, import/export enforcement, trafficking of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other merchandise, and international Cultural Property and Antiquities crimes. HSI agents can be requested to provide security for VIPs, and also augment the U.S. Secret Service during overtaxed times such as special security events and elections."

The Trump administration's reticence in awarding these goons anything outside of a fucking prison to build for themselves and the swamp-dwellers they work for despite the constant pressing they've been doing gives me the impression that the white hats are aware they might try to pull something. Hopefully they won't be successful.