The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered into an agreement with a Florida company to activate a detention center in eastern North Carolina — the latest move by the federal government to handle a surge in detainees as the Trump administration aggressively enforces immigration laws.
The GEO Group said Wednesday that it agreed to a five-year support services contract with ICE for the activation of a federal immigration processing center at the GEO-owned, 1,320-bed Rivers Facility in Winton.
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It’s expected to be one of the largest immigration detention centers on the East Coast and the state's first dedicated federal immigration detention center, according to a report by The New York Times citing internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.
The agreement follows court battles and a public pressure campaign that preceded the closure of a massive detention camp in Florida that supporters and opponents called “Alligator Alcatraz.” Earlier this month, dozens of activists rallied at the state legislature in Raleigh, urging state leaders to oppose any effort to start detaining immigrants in North Carolina.
“The planned ICE detention center in Winton is not state-owned, and I did not approve this transaction,” Democratic Gov. Josh Stein wrote on social media last week. “Like many other North Carolinians, I do not want it in our state. ICE and Border Patrol have not earned our trust.”
Opponents of the project and others like it have pointed to allegations of mismanagement and abuse at immigration detention facilities. More than 50 immigrants have died in detention camps awaiting deportation since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, promising ramped-up immigration enforcement.
Trump has given many large government contracts to GEO Group, which heavily backed his reelection campaign, and which he owns hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in.
GEO has faced allegations of physical and sexual violence at facilities in multiple states.
The Rivers site, which is owned by GEO, previously operated as a federal prison before its 2021 closure. A 2016 U.S. Department of Justice review of privately operated federal prisons found Rivers had among the highest rates of inmate-on-inmate violence, sexual misconduct, contraband and positive drug tests in the federal private prison system.
The prison closed in 2021 after former President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government to phase out contracts with privately operated prisons. Before closing, the facility employed about 300 people in Hertford County.
The contract announced Wednesday is expected to generate about $80 million in annual revenues for GEO in the first full year of operations, according to the Boca Raton, Florida, company which employs about 20,000 people at almost 100 facilities around the world.
GEO is expected to provide support services to ICE, along with security, maintenance and food services, as well as access to recreational amenities, medical care and legal counsel.
George C. Zoley, GEO's chief executive, said in a statement that the company expects the facility to play an important role in helping meet the increasing need for detention space tied to immigration cases. “We are proud of our 40-year public-private partnership with ICE,” Zoley said, “and we stand ready to continue to assist the federal government in meeting its immigration enforcement priorities.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina issued a statement Wednesday opposing the move.
“The people of Hertford County deserve jobs with dignity that support long-term investment in our rural communities, not jobs that rely on the suffering of vulnerable communities,” Liz Barber, director of policy and advocacy at ACLU of North Carolina, said in the statement. “... We must build systems grounded in justice, systems that don't prioritize lining the pockets of millionaires and advancing a profit-over-people agenda. Everyone should be able to walk our streets without fear of being kidnapped or even killed by officers who are purportedly there to protect us."
According to the Deportation Data Project, ICE has arrested more than 6,300 people in North Carolina since Trump took office in January 2025 — roughly double the number during the previous two years under Biden.
North Carolina's Border Protection Act, which became law this year over Stein's veto, expands cooperation between ICE and state agencies, including the State Highway Patrol, State Bureau of Investigation, Department of Public Safety and Department of Adult Correction. Republican lawmakers say the law creates consistent statewide standards and improves public safety. Opponents argue it will increase immigration enforcement and detention across North Carolina.
"It is simply common sense that law-enforcement agencies should work together to identify and remove individuals who are in this country illegally and commit crimes," a spokeswoman for House Speaker Destin Hall said last week. "Thanks to these efforts, dangerous offenders are being taken off our streets, and North Carolina communities are safer as a result."