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A former staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency took a tour of the premises of the rural Tennessee Bonnaroo music festival in June 2005. He wasn’t there to see the headliners, which included Dave Matthews Band and the lead vocalist of the common jelly group Phish. He was present to satisfy the men who were constructing the restrooms for the throng of campers who were psychedelic-infected, including Robert Napior, a former marijuana grower who had a focus on setting up music festivals, and Richard Stapleton, a veteran of the construction industry.
The meeting, described in court documents, offered the couple’s fledgling company, Deployed Resources, a crucial intro to players doing state contract labor for the Department of Homeland Security, the organization that oversees not only the world’s crisis responses but also its immigration program. As they transformed their small-time shipping company, which had contributed to outside events like Lollapalooza, into a outsourcing huge by creating tents for detaining immigrants arriving at the U.S. Mexico border, over the course of 20 years, Stapleton and Napior hired more than a dozen former company insiders.
Then, as the state races to carry out President Donald Trump’s campaign promises of mass deportations, Deployed is shifting its business after more — from holding people who are trying to enter the country to detaining those the government is seeking to send out.
The government will spend tens of billions of dollars on immigration detention, including unheard of plans to confine people who have been detained in large tent camps on military installations. One recently published request for contract proposals said the Department of Homeland Security could spend up to$ 45 billion over the next several years on immigrant detention. The plans have caused a gold rush among contractors. All this spending is unfolding at the same time the government has made sweeping cuts to federal agencies and shed other contracts.
Deployed Resources, along with its sister company, Deployed Services, has adapted to changing government priorities and priorities in immigration enforcement, making a windfall among those seeking a profit.
Starting in 2016, to help respond to spikes in immigrant crossings that had periodically overwhelmed border stations, Deployed began setting up tent encampments to ease the overcrowding. These temporary structures were used as short-term emergency waystations, which several former officials claimed provided the United States with the needed flexibility. Many of those arriving — including families and unaccompanied children— were turning themselves in, hoping to be released into the U. S. to apply for asylum. According to ProPublica’s analysis of contract data, the company has been awarded more than$ 4 billion in government contracts for building and operating border tents overall.
Since taking office in January, Trump has cracked down on asylum, pushing border crossings to record lows. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced last month that Deployed no longer needed the tent facilities.
Instead, ProPublica found, the military will now be contracting with Deployed to use one of those border facilities to house people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One of the company’s tent complexes in El Paso, Texas, was handed over to ICE in March, according to CBP and ICE spokespeople. In an unusual move, the Trump administration tapped funds from the Department of Defense to pay Deployed for the facility, citing the president’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border, a DOD spokesperson said. Without further elaborating why ICE would use military funds, the spokesperson claimed that the nearly$ 140 million contract was not disclosed publicly and instead was designated as the “incumbent contractor” to Deployed. ICE said it started transferring detainees to the site — which currently has the capacity to house 1, 000 adults — on March 10.
Detention space in the country’s existing network of permanent ICE prisons is filling up as immigration raids get more frequent. There are currently around 48, 000 immigrants locked up across the country, levels not seen since 2019. According to information shared with ProPublica, deportations are occurring at a slower rate than ICE arrests, so the administration is turning to businesses that can quickly set up facilities.
As it looks to expand its capacity, the agency “is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements”, said ICE spokesman Miguel Alvarez.
Seven current and former DHS officials who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations told ProPublica that using tents to house thousands of people who were detained by ICE is fundamentally different from using them to house recent border crossers, many of whom weren’t supposed to be held for more than a few days.
They said it would be the first time these tent camps would be used for ICE detainees in the U. S. and that it was unclear how they could be constructed to meet the agency’s basic health and safety requirements. These include designated zones for families, designated areas for families, and spaces for lawyers and their clients to meet privately. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not directly involved in the contracts.
One former ICE official said,” People you’ve ripped out of the community, people you’ve arrested, people who want to get back to their kids, people who are scared, people who are afraid, people who are going to behave differently than the border crossing population,” ” You have a lot more fear in the population”.
Another former DHS official claimed that “it would require a remarkable degree of innovation from a contractor,” adding that “it would also be incredibly expensive.”
At a border security conference this week, ICE Acting Assistant Director for Operations Support Ralph Ferguson said that Deployed Resources was modifying the CBP tents in El Paso by adding more rigid structures inside, which he said would make them more secure. According to a public notice posted in late March, deployed received an additional contract for up to$ 5 million to provide unarmed guards at the El Paso facility.
The company did not respond to requests for comment. Deployed describes itself as” the first-choice provider” for government contracts and states on its website that it is “dedicated to safely and effectively providing transparent facility support and logistical services, anytime, anywhere.”
Deployed was also one of the companies interested in operating an immigrant detention camp on the nearby Fort Bliss military base, according to government documents obtained by ProPublica and interviews with people familiar with the contracting process. Last month, ICE was looking for proposals from vendors for a 1, 000-bed camp that could grow to 5, 000 beds and housing families with young children as well as those deemed high security risks. The contractor would be responsible for separating those groups and preventing escapes, documents reviewed by ProPublica show.
The plans are” a recipe for disaster,” according to Eunice Hyunhye Cho, a lawyer for the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
” All of the problems that we see with ICE detention writ large, like the abuse of force, the sexual assault, medical neglect, the lack of food, lack of access to counsel, lack of due process rights, lack of access to telephones — the list goes on — all of those things are going to be vastly more complicated in a system where you are literally setting up people in tents that are surrounded by barbed wire and armed military personnel”, Cho said.
Deployed Resources has had a virtual monopoly on providing CBP with immigration tent structures since 2016 in order to cope with sudden influxes of immigrants. During the first Trump administration, the contractor set up temporary tent courts for people forced to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings under a policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols. The Department of Health and Human Services provided funding for the company’s ongoing operations of emergency detention facilities for unaccompanied minors during the Biden years.
Though the value of Deployed Resources isn’t publicly known, county real estate records attest to the wealth its owners, Stapleton and Napior, have amassed in the detention business.
Stapleton purchased a$ 5.7 million condo in Naples, Florida shortly after the company secured what was then its largest immigration contract: a$ 92 million no-bid award to operate two tent facilities in Texas. Nearly three years and more than$ 1 billion in contracts later, he upgraded to a$ 15 million home a block away from the shore. In 2023, Apior purchased a$ 9 million beachfront property close to Sarasota, Florida. Stapleton did not respond to requests for comment. Napior, who was contacted via phone, claimed he did not comment to the press and then hung up.
After the meeting at Bonnaroo in 2005, Deployed later hired the former FEMA employee who had checked out its facilities there and to win emergency management contracting work at the agency before moving into immigration detention. Deployed claimed in court documents that the meeting did not hinder the FEMA work.
Deployed went on to hire additional former DHS officials over the years, expanding its connections to the federal agencies with which it does business. The company hired a number of former ICE leaders, according to current and former officials, with a second Trump administration on the verge of a potential threat to Deployed’s core business.
A month after Trump’s victory, former ICE field office director Sean Ervin announced he was joining Deployed as a senior adviser for strategic initiatives. He had previously managed removal projects in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The head of field operations for ICE Miami, Michael Meade— an 18-year agency veteran — also joined Deployed that month, according to their profiles on Linked In. When contacted for comment, Meade and Ervin did not respond.
Deployed has continued to win federal business even after the spending on the company’s contracts was criticized by government watchdogs and a whistleblower.
A review of one no-bid CBP contract conducted by the first Trump administration to Deployed by Congress ‘ Government Accountability Office revealed that the 2, 500-person facility’s 2,500-person facility in Tornillo, Texas, averaged just 30 detainees per night in the fall of 2019 and never held more than 68 during the five-month period it was open. It also found that CBP paid Deployed millions for meals it didn’t need to feed people it wasn’t holding. According to the GAO, deployed agreed to reimburse$ 250, 000 for meals that weren’t delivered.
A separate whistleblower lawsuit in New Hampshire brought by a former DHS official who worked for Deployed accuses the company of cutting corners on training its staff to detect and report sexual abuse of children in facilities it set up to house unaccompanied minors during the Biden administration. Deployed stated in court filings that it “vigorously disputes the allegations” and has moved to dismiss the case.
In 2019, construction crews are at the facility where immigrants are held in Tornillo, Texas. The 2, 500-person detention center was constructed and provided by Deployed Resources, but it closed in 2020 after months of low occupancy. ( Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters )
Last year, Dan Bishop, a former Republican congressman from North Carolina, held up a Deployed Services contract in Greensboro, North Carolina, as an example of waste during a hearing on unaccompanied migrant children. According to Bishop, the company received nearly$ 40 million to help run a facility for immigrant children, but it sat empty for more than two years.
Deployed nonetheless had workers there full time, according to interviews with three former employees familiar with the facility, tasking them with playacting as if they were providing care. According to former Deployed workers and former employees ‘ social media accounts describing the bizarre situation, case managers created case details and deployed workers would play as students in classrooms and even request permission to use the bathroom.
” I have no idea why they were doing that with government money”, said one former case manager, who recalled inventing elaborate backstories for fictional children, filling out make-believe statements and other paperwork for hours each day. The case manager resided in Greensboro for about a year in housing that Deployed provided for under its government contract. Deployed did not respond to requests for comment about its Greensboro contract.
Deployed is just one of the businesses hoping to benefit from the additional funding that will be used for immigration detention. In addition to Fort Bliss more than 10 military sites around the country are being considered for ICE detention facilities, according to a DHS document shared with ProPublica. The New York Times previously covered certain aspects of the plan.
The Fort Bliss contracting process has proceeded mostly out of public view, and it’s not clear if the project would go forward or fall under the larger$ 45 billion plan to expand immigration detention. According to two people with knowledge of the visit, representatives from at least 10 businesses, including Deployed Resources, visited Fort Bliss with DHS officials in March to check on the place. Also there were private prison giants The GEO Group and CoreCivic, the sources said.
According to a review by the Nonpartisan Washington Watchdog Group’s Project on Government Oversight, the GEO Group’s leadership and allied political action groups, more than$ 1 million was given to Trump’s reelection campaign. On its most recent earnings call, GE O’s CEO said Trump’s immigration agenda was an “unprecedented opportunity” for the firm. Additionally, CoreCivic has spoken about the business opportunities, having donated$ 500, 000 to the Trump inauguration committee. After Trump’s election, stock prices for both companies jumped.
CoreCivic said it is in “regular contact” with government agencies to “understand their changing needs,” but it does not make any comments on contracts it is looking to get. Its contribution to inauguration events was” consistent with our past practice of civic participation” supporting both parties. A request for comment was not received by the GEO Group.
Deployed Services has largely eschewed political donations, sticking to its strategy — also used by GEO and CoreCivic — of hiring former high-ranking government officials.
Marlen Pineiro, who has spent more than 40 years in government, joined Deployed a few weeks ago, according to her LinkedIn profile. At a border security conference this week, where several former high-ranking DHS employees hired by Deployed were gathered among industry vets and Trump immigration officials, Pineiro declined an interview request from a ProPublica reporter.
However, congratulations came in on Linked In. The acting head of ICE under Trump, Todd Lyons, posted:” Great news”. Welcome aboard, two other senior ICE officials who recently joined Deployed added:
” Let’s sail away”, Pineiro replied. ” Woohoooooooooo see you soon.”
Note: ProPublica analyzed transaction-level contract data from usaspending. gov for this article. Contract amounts reported are federal obligations over the life of a contract or group of contracts. The contract is new and up to$ 140 million in the case of the recently announced Department of Defense award to Deployed Resources.
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