The Florida-based headquarters for one of the country’s largest prison and immigrant detention management companies was vandalized Tuesday by protesters calling for the government to stop doing business with the company.
Protesters blocked the parking garage entrance at the GEO Group building in Boca Raton, Florida, Tuesday morning. Photos of the building’s main entrance show fake blood spewed across it, as well as banners, fake money, and a garbage can posted out front.
One sign states, “Racist Classist [Illegible] Opportunistic F—ing Prisons.” Employees were not allowed into the building due to the blockade. Boca Raton police arrested one person, according to a local media report. It’s not clear if anyone was arrested for vandalizing the entrance to the building.
A statement from an organizer, Nancy Norelli, said activists “from a myriad of organizational backgrounds came together to physically impede “business as usual” at GEO’s corporate office. The organizations behind the protest and vandalism were not identified in the statement.
The for-profit company’s government contracting services have led to “the suffering of children” and should be terminated, Norelli said. “We will not allow their workers to sit undisturbed in air-conditioned offices while people are deprived of their humanity, dying in crowded cages.”
BREAKING: Human Rights Activists Block Entry to GEO Group’s Boca Raton Headquarters#ShutdownGEO pic.twitter.com/Nt7bPaguEJ
— #SunlightIsAHumanRight (@jaybeware) December 3, 2019
A GEO Group representative responded in a statement that the allegations were dishonest. “The safety of our employees is our top priority, and any violence, vandalism, or destruction of property at any of our facilities and offices will not be tolerated,” GEO said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
GEO runs 10 facilities nationwide where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees are held through immigration proceedings. It also has government contracts for federal prisons.
“We do not manage any facilities housing unaccompanied migrant minors or any border patrol holding facilities,” GEO said. “We have been a trusted service provider to the federal government for over 30 years, under Democratic and Republican Administrations, and the services we provide today are in no way different from the high quality, professional services we provided for eight years under President Obama’s administration.”
A @BocaPolice officer told organizer Carlos Naranjo Valerna he was in violation of a @CityBocaRaton city ordinance for using an amplifier to project their voice. Officers arrested him and siezed the amp as evidence. @SunSentinel pic.twitter.com/eZpZspTy2T
— Austen Erblat (@AustenErblat) December 3, 2019
Protesters also gathered at the GEO building in August. ICE facilities across the country have faced protests over the past two years, including at GEO buildings in Tacoma, Washington, and Denver.
GEO Group and CoreCivic, another private prison operator, lost investments from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Chase, and other banks this year following outcry over the for-profit contractors profiting off jailing people.
