Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers receives support from ICE-linked private prisons

Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers (R) has received $27,625 from for-profit prisons who are working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants.

A recent report from The Gander newsroom shows that Rogers has received $22,000 from entities associated with CoreCivic Inc, one of the largest private prison operators in the United States. These contributions include $5,000 from CoreCivic PAC last November, and a combined $17,000 from CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger.

Screenshot from Federal Elections Commission website

Last February, just over one month after President Donald Trump took office, CoreCivic signed a deal with ICE to expand its immigrant detention capacity across several facilities, including ones in Texas, Kansas and California among others. According to CoreCivic’s third quarter financial report, 33% of the company’s revenue came from ICE during that quarter.

FEC reports also show a political action committee associated with GEO Group gave Rogers’ 2024 Senate campaign a combined $5,625. In addition to providing detention facilities, GEO Group’s transportation subsidiary is the largest provider of ground and air transportation for ICE operations.  

GEO Group and CoreCivic have been accused of numerous human rights violations and controversies in recent years. Rogers’ campaign, GEO Group and CoreCivic did not immediately respond to requests to comment for this story. 

Rogers has repeatedly voiced support for the Trump administration’s immigration operations, even after the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis last month.