ICE Weakened Detainee Standards After Private Outreach From Top Contractor GEO Group

ICE quietly removed detainee protections from its detention standards after private outreach from GEO Group, the government’s largest detention contractor, The Washington Post reported. The company urged the agency to delete language requiring contractors to comply with state and local laws — a change that could bolster GEO’s defense in pending lawsuits — and new standards ICE published days later reflected some of those requests. The agency is now led by acting director David Venturella, who spent more than a decade as a senior GEO Group executive.