Durbin Demands Attorney General Bondi To Recuse Herself From Any Work Benefitting Private Prison Company Due To Conflicts Of Interest
Durbin cites Bondi’s previous representation of GEO Group and her current role overseeing DOJ’s immigration enforcement efforts, builds on his amped up Congressional oversight of Trump Administration’s immigration detention agenda
CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to recuse herself from any Justice Department (DOJ)-related work that could benefit her former lobbying client, the GEO Group, a major private prison contractor whose largest source of revenue is from contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Durbin raises serious ethical concerns due to her past representation of the GEO Group and her current role in overseeing DOJ’s immigration enforcement efforts, given DOJ’s central role in advancing the Trump Administration’s immigration agenda. He also seeks clarification on whether appropriate recusals and ethical safeguards have been implemented, considering Bondi’s prior lobbying for the GEO Group and recent actions undermining internal ethics oversight.
Durbin began with a specific call for recusal, writing: “With DOJ’s outsized role implementing President Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation agenda and the GEO Group securing long-term, multimillion-dollar contracts in recent weeks, we call on you to recuse yourself from any and all DOJ activities, communications, or policy decisions related to immigration detention, enforcement, and contracting that could directly or indirectly benefit the GEO Group or impact its federal contracts.”
Durbin then cited multiple memoranda that have escalated DOJ involvement in immigration enforcement since the start of the Trump Administration.
Durbin continued by outlining the GEO Group’s significant influence in the private prison industry and recent actions that undercut the Attorney General’s promises during her confirmation hearing, writing: “During your confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, when asked if you would recuse yourself from any matters involving your past clients, such as the GEO Group, you said you ‘[would] consult with the career ethics officials within the Department of Justice and make the appropriate decision.’ Yet, within weeks of President Trump assuming office, then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove removed the Department’s senior career ethics official and replaced him with two political appointees with limited experience. This marks a dramatic break from past Democratic and Republican administrations, which rightly entrusted a senior career DOJ official, not political appointees, with critical decisions on ethics, recognizing that politicizing this role would endanger both the Department’s integrity and its employees.”
Durbin concluded with admonishing the stripping of critical safeguards at the Department before making a series of information requests, writing: “Given the removal of critical safeguards designed to ensure that the actions of Department officials are ethical, we can no longer be sure you have properly recused yourself from matters related to the GEO Group. With DOJ fully integrated into the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and GEO securing long-term, multimillion-dollar contracts as a result, you cannot credibly claim neutrality on enforcement matters. The ethical considerations are too great to ignore.”
For a PDF of the letter to Attorney General Bondi, click here.
The demand for recusal is the latest step in Durbin’s ongoing inquiry into medical and mental health care in DHS’s facilities. Yesterday, Durbin sent oversight requests to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and three major private contractors operating immigration facilities—CoreCivic, the GEO Group, and LaSalle Corrections—seeking clarity on the spending of taxpayer dollars, existing safeguards and accountability measures, and protection of detainees’ rights.
Earlier this year, Durbin released a revealing investigative report on inadequate care in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities and pressed for further investigation into deficient medical care in CBP detention facilities after whistleblower reports alleged systemic failures by DHS to ensure proper oversight of its medical care contractor.
Durbin continues to actively investigate care in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities, which he initiated with letters to ICE and the Government Accountability Office. A June 2024 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, Physicians for Human Rights, and American Oversight found that 95 percent of documented deaths in ICE custody between 2017-2021 were likely preventable.
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