Dear New Yorkers,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to reopen an immigrant detention facility in Newark that will nearly double the agency’s capacity to detain people in the New York City region, the agency announced in a press release late Wednesday evening.
That means big business for the private prison contractor, The GEO Group. They said the 1,000 bed facility would open this spring, and that the company had signed a 15-year contract with ICE worth $60 million a year.
According to the Federal Procurement Data System, the contract, dated Wednesday, is worth a total of $1.2 billion.
In a quarterly earnings call yesterday, the executive chairman of GEO told shareholders that the company anticipated President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda would lead to a huge increase in the number of ICE detention beds — to as many as 160,000 from the current 41,000 — along with a surge in deportation flights and electronic monitoring.
“ We expect the upside potential from all these opportunities to represent as much as $800 million to $1 billion in incremental annual ICE revenues” as new contracts open up, he said, on top of the $2.42 billion in revenues the companies had been projecting.
In a statement, U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey slammed GEO’s new contract, saying that the company has a “documented history of gross neglect” of the people detained at its facilities.
Read more here about what will become the largest immigration detention center in the New York-metropolitan area.
Weather ⛅
A little cooler, with a higher near 48. It’ll get cloudier as the day goes on.
MTA 🚇
The Woodlawn-bound 4 train in The Bronx runs express from 167 Street to Mosholu Parkway from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
Alternate side parking 🚙
It’s suspended today, Feb. 28, for Losar — the Tibetan New Year.
By the way…
Today is the first time that alternate side parking is suspended for Losar! The Tibetan holiday is now one of an elite group that’s honored with the parking designation.
Our Other Top Stories
- We could be looking at an challenge Mayor Eric Adams. The speaker says she hasn’t yet fully made up her mind, but is responding to a chorus of calls to run including, reportedly, from people like Attorney General Letitia James.
- Throughout a two-hour mayoral forum hosted by the huge public workers union, DC 37, the mere mention of the mayor’s name elicited a chorus of boos from the audience of rank-and-file , a key base of for Adams in the past. Even though he said he would attend at first, the mayor bailed on the event, and DC 37 who spoke with THE CITY said that action alone should be enough for the union to not endorse him this time around.
- Speaking of endorsements … THE CITY spoke to experts about which endorsements matter the most in local races, the strategy behind when candidates should publicize endorsements, and which ones we should be looking out for as the race ramps up. Read the guide here.
- Tough news from the ongoing strike upstate: Two prisoners at Sing Sing died only hours apart on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total deaths behind bars to three since correction officers at more than two dozen state facilities went on strike earlier this month. It’s unclear if there is any connection between the two deaths in one day at the same facility, but for the last 10 days both men had been locked-down in their cells because of the strike, prison advocates said.
- Are you allowed to sign election petitions for more than one mayoral candidate? Multiple readers sent us that question after our last RANKED CHOICES newsletter. Good news — in yesterday’s edition, we answered it! Read the newsletter here!)
Reporter’s Notebook
Rich Get Richer
The highest paid New Yorkers continue to do the best economically, according to new data released Thursday by the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.
The top 3% of wage earners — those making more than $312,000 a year — saw their incomes increase 9% in 2024 even after adjusting for inflation. Those people work primarily on Wall Street and in the city’s computer and information sectors. Excluding the top 3%, workers saw wages decline by 0.1%.
Last year continued a trend that has increased inequality in New York City while the rest of the nation saw a modest decline.
Nationally, workers in the bottom 20% by wages saw pay grow by 13.2% between 2019 and 2023, outpacing inflation. The top 20% of wage earners saw pay move up only 4.4%. The opposite happened in New York City: The lowest-paid workers’ pay rose 6%, while the highest-paid workers saw pay jump 18.2%.
— Greg David
Things To Do
Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.
- Friday, Feb. 28: At this free talk, discover New York’s forgotten waterways — as the sea level rises, their impact on the city may become more dramatic. Hunter College, Manhattan. 6:30 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 28 – Sunday, March 16: It’s the New York International Children’s Film Festival! Catch one of the flicks at a number of venues in Manhattan.
- Saturday, March 1: Learn how to build a raised wooden bed for growing your own food at this free workshop. Red Gate Garden, Brooklyn. 11 a.m.
THE KICKER: It’s been a century since The New Yorker was first published. Learn about the storied publication’s history in a just-opened exhibit at the Stephen A. Schwarzman branch of the New York Public Library.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.
Love,
THE CITY
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