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Private prison stocks soar after Trump names Tom Homan 'border czar'



Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Tom Homan speaks at a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 28, 2017. On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump named Homan as the nation's next "border czar," prompting private prison stocks to soar. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Private prison stocks soared Monday after President-elect Donald Trump announced immigration hardliner Tom Homan as the nation's next "border czar."

GeoGroup jumped 4.5%, while CoreCivic increased 6.3% following Homan's promise that he "will run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen."
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Homan is well known, having served during Trump's first administration as head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders," Trump said in a statement on Truth Social, as Vice President-elect JD Vance suggested starting with 1 million undocumented migrants "and then we can go from there."

Trump's new pick for 'border czar' says workplace immigration raids planned

After Trump's election win last week, analysts predicted a strong rally for the two stocks.

"With Trump returning to the White House, there will be a far firmer embrace of GeoGroup and CXW," Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at BTIG, told clients on Nov. 6. "More importantly they would take a far more aggressive stance on border enforcement, which would impact the ICE business lines at these firms."

Both GeoGroup and CoreCivic surged last week, scoring one of their best weekly gains since Trump's last election win in November 2016. The president-elect had vowed throughout his campaign to crack down on crime and illegal immigration.

CoreCivic -- which owns, leases and manages correctional facilities -- soared nearly 88% last week before settling for a weekly gain of 69%. GeoGroup increased by almost 76% after the election.

GeoGroup founder and chairperson George Zoley hailed the "unprecedented opportunity" during last Thursday's earnings call.

"We have 18,000 available beds across contracted and idle secure services facilities, which if fully activated, would provide significant potential upside to our financial performance," Zoley said last week. "The GeoGroup was built for this unique moment in our company's and country's history, and the opportunity it will bring."

Trump says EPA pick Lee Zeldin will promote clean air, water through deregulation

COUGH, COUGH, THIS WATER IS CLOUDY


Former New York Republican congressman Lee Zeldin speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024. On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump chose Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency, as he called for "U.S. energy dominance" while "protecting access to clean air and water." File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 11 (UPI) -- President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

"I am pleased to announce that the highly respected former congressman from New York, Lee Zeldin, will be appointed to serve as the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," Trump announced Monday.

"He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water, on the planet," Trump added in a statement.

Zeldin confirmed in a post on X, that he had accepted the appointment.

"It is an honor to join President Trump's Cabinet as EPA administrator," Zeldin wrote.

"We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs and make the United States the global leader of artificial intelligence. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water," Zeldin added.

Zeldin, 44, served in active duty in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in 2006. He served in Congress between 2015 and 2023, and did not seek re-election in 2022 to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in a race he lost by 6 percentage points in the blue state.

While in Congress, Zeldin served on the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees. He also served on Trump's legal team during the former president's first failed impeachment in 2019.

Following the 2020 election, Zeldin was criticized for voting against certification of the presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, over what he claimed was evidence of fraud and interference.

"Today's debate is necessary especially because of the insistence that everything that President Trump and his supporters say about the 2020 election is 'evidence-free.' That's simply not true," Zeldin said on the House floor on Jan. 6, 2021, the same day election rioters entered the U.S. Capitol.

In 2022, Zeldin voted against Biden's climate law, along with every other House Republican. He also voted against the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. Based on his environmental voting record, the League of Conservation Voters has given Zeldin a lifetime score of 14%.

Since leaving office, Zeldin chaired the China policy initiative and has written about national security threats posed by China at the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit that promotes Trump's agenda.

By the end of this year, the EPA will be obligated to spend nearly $38.3 billion from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. While Zeldin -- who is subject to Senate confirmation -- is expected to roll back a number of Biden environmental regulations during the Trump administration's first 100 days, he has not specified which regulations could be targeted.



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