The Billion-Dollar Grift Hiding Behind Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
Ben Cable (Originally posted on CitizenBen.Substack.com)
It reads like satire, but it’s real, and it’s happening on our watch.
ProPublica dropped a bombshell that should infuriate anyone still paying attention to the fine print of American democracy. The man profiting off what is now being called the largest immigrant detention center in U.S. history—slated for construction at Fort Bliss—is none other than Nathan Albers, whose prior company pleaded guilty to employing undocumented immigrants just six years ago.
Yes, you read that right. A man who once hid undocumented workers from the feds is now cashing in on their incarceration.
Albers’ new venture, Disaster Management Group, is among the companies granted access to a $1.2 billion Department of Defense contract—part of the Trump administration’s renewed push to industrialize mass deportation and detention under the guise of “border security.” According to ProPublica, the contract includes building out Fort Bliss into a sprawling migrant holding zone in El Paso, Texas, capable of detaining tens of thousands. It’s a critical cog in Trump’s new immigration machine, an unholy blend of policy, punishment, and profit.
And Albers isn’t some neutral contractor. He’s politically connected, reportedly a Mar-a-Lago donor, and well-placed inside the orbit of Trumpworld. His firm, much like its founder, has a checkered past. His previous company, according to court filings, falsified documentation to hide the identities of its undocumented workers. That company paid fines and walked away. Now Albers is back, rewarded not with scrutiny, but with taxpayer money.
This is the story of a government scam so egregious that it borders on criminal negligence. And yet, it’s legal.
From Hypocrisy to Infrastructure
It’s a pattern that should disturb us all. Private companies with past offenses are lining up for billion-dollar paydays under the Trump administration’s crackdown. But it’s not just the hypocrisy of someone once penalized for exploiting immigrants now profiting from their imprisonment. It’s how normalized this revolving door of grift has become.
Under the “Big Beautiful Bill” (H.R. 1), a sweeping legislative bludgeon passed on July 4th, the federal government has expanded enforcement funding while gutting immigrant access to healthcare, nutrition, tax credits, and fundamental rights. H.R. 1 is now the law of the land after Trump’s signature in Sharpie. Under that umbrella, contracts like the one Albers just landed are not the exception. They are the point.
Trump’s return to power has not been defined by conservative policy, it has been described by the monetization of cruelty.
The private prison industry, already a juggernaut during Trump’s first term, is once again experiencing a financial renaissance. GEO Group, CoreCivic, and now firms like Albers’ are not just building facilities—they’re securing occupancy guarantees. That means the government is contractually obligated to fill beds. The more people detained, the more they get paid.
Government-by-Graft
It would be one thing if this corruption were hidden in the shadows. But this is all being done in plain sight. Trump’s hand-picked “border czar,” Tom Homan, a former ICE director, has quietly earned consulting fees from private detention firms—including GEO Group. According to The Washington Post, Homan’s influence helped expand bed capacity across the country, dovetailing with legislation that strips away legal protections while ramping up enforcement.
And Homan is far from alone.
Take Louis DeJoy, Trump’s postmaster general turned logistics baron
Even after scandalous slowdowns in mail delivery during the 2020 election, DeJoy retained his post and was rewarded under Trump’s second term with postal privatization contracts that benefited his former company, XPO Logistics, now rebranded and partially repurchased by investors close to the Trump administration. USPS insiders have accused the administration of deliberately weakening postal infrastructure to redirect public services to private firms.
Or consider Jared Kushner’s COVID-era vaccine diplomacy
Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, which raised billions from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is now entangled in reports that vaccine logistics and emergency supply routes—particularly to Gulf allies- were conditioned on future private equity access. In 2024, congressional Democrats called for an inquiry into whether Kushner monetized diplomatic connections made while in office for private gain.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s self-styled “legal hitwoman,” is another classic case
After swearing in her confirmation hearings that she would be an impartial public servant, Bondi has instead aggressively pursued Trump’s critics, journalists, whistleblowers, and even former staffers, while conveniently avoiding scrutiny of Trump-linked entities like the Trump Organization and 2024 campaign dark money super PACs. Her office signed off on immunity deals for several Trump allies accused of misusing public funds in exchange for endorsements and media silence.
From DeJoy’s logistics windfall to Kushner’s transnational influence-peddling, the Trump administration has functioned less like a government and more like a pay-to-play racket. You want a contract? Praise the leader. You want oversight removed? Cut a check. You want legal cover? Hire one of Trump’s loyalists.
Even the Supreme Court hasn’t escaped suspicion. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that Justice Samuel Alito took undisclosed trips with donors linked to conservative lobbying firms now benefiting from deregulation of education and healthcare under Trump’s “American Renewal Plan.”
Why You Should Care
This isn’t just about immigration. This is about what kind of government we are now tolerating. When political insiders are allowed to profit off the very system they previously violated, democracy becomes window dressing for oligarchy.
Albers is just one face of the problem. There will be more like him, contractors, donors, fixers, who get rich off the backs of the vulnerable. Because that’s what this administration rewards: loyalty to power, not to law.
The Fort Bliss project isn’t just a detention facility. It’s a monument to the marriage of corruption and cruelty. And unless we demand real oversight, real reform, and real consequences, it won’t be the last.
Because in Trump’s America, the only real crime is getting in the way of the grift.
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2. Pressure Your Representatives
Call, email, or visit your local, state, and federal lawmakers. Demand:
- Independent investigations into federal contracts awarded to political allies.
- Oversight on ICE detention facilities, occupancy quotas, and private contracts.
- An end to “revolving door” appointments between government and private prison industries.
Use whoismyrepresentative.com to find your rep or use
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