Fact check: What is the average cost per day to detain an immigrant in ICE facilities as of 2025?

1. Conflicting Headlines: Two “averages” Tell Different Stories

Reporting produced two principal headline averages: Marketplace’s July 2025 figure of $187.48 per adult per day for FY2023, and a September 2025 analysis estimating $164.65 per day in mid-2025, indicating a modest decline ^{[1] [2]}. These numbers are presented as nationwide averages and come from different methodologies and reference periods; Marketplace explicitly tied its figure to fiscal-year accounting for 2023, while the later piece framed a mid-2025 snapshot and aggregated expenditures differently. The difference of about $22 per day reflects methodological choices, timing, and possible real changes in detention costs over time ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Contract Invoices Tell a Different, Higher Tale

Separate local and contract reporting shows occupancy-based invoices and monthly payments that imply much higher per-detainee costs in specific facilities: GEO Group invoices described monthly payments of roughly $520,000 in 2023 and $700,000–$860,000 in 2024 for a Pennsylvania facility, producing higher implied daily per-detainee costs than the nationwide averages ^[3]. A recently awarded 15-year, $1 billion contract to detain up to 1,000 immigrants also allows for simple back-of-envelope per-detainee/day estimates that differ from federal average reporting, demonstrating contract structure and guaranteed capacity materially affect reported per-detainee costs ^[4].

3. Why Nationwide Averages and Contract Payments Diverge

Nationwide averages like the $187 and $165 figures derive from federal accounting across many facilities and cost categories, spreading fixed administrative, medical, and transportation costs across total detainee-days; contract invoices often include occupancy guarantees, fixed monthly fees, and escalation clauses that raise facility-level per diem equivalents. The Marketplace FY2023 figure is an aggregate after-year accounting; the mid-2025 estimate aggregates different expenditures midstream. Thus assertions about “the average cost” depend on whether one cites federal accounting or contractor billing practices ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

4. Timing Matters: FY2023 vs Mid-2025 vs Contract Months

The Marketplace figure references FY2023 accounting, while other analyses provide a mid-2025 snapshot, and contract invoices cite month-by-month payments in 2023–2024 that changed substantially. Costs per detainee can shift quickly due to policy changes, detention population fluctuations, and administration enforcement priorities, as reflected by reported monthly increases in invoicing during 2024. Comparing figures without aligning periods therefore creates an apples-to-oranges problem that requires careful temporal matching to reach an accurate conclusion ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

5. What the $1B Contract Suggests When You Do the Math

A 15-year, $1 billion contract to detain up to 1,000 immigrants yields a simplistic maximum-cost framing: if fully used, that contract averages roughly $183 per detainee per day across 15 years (annualized) assuming full occupancy and consistent costs — a figure in the same band as the Marketplace estimate but dependent on utilization and escalation terms. This math illustrates how contract scale and intended capacity can produce per-day estimates similar to federal averages, yet conceal month-to-month billing swings and locality-specific markups ^[4].

6. Sources, Methodologies, and Potential Agendas to Note

The available analyses come from journalism and policy reporting that use different source documents — federal budgets, ICE accounting, and contractor invoices. Each source may emphasize cost-savings or cost-growth narratives depending on editorial focus; for instance, facility-level contract reporting often underscores rising contractor revenues amid enforcement campaigns, while nationwide analyses emphasize average per-detainee expenditures. Every figure should therefore be read as the product of selective data use and context rather than a single authoritative truth ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

7. Practical Bottom Line for 2025 Policymaking and Public Understanding

For policy and budgeting purposes in 2025, cite the range rather than a single number: roughly $165–$187 per detainee per day for nationwide average estimates, and materially higher implied per-detainee costs in specific contractor invoices and guaranteed-capacity contracts. Analysts and lawmakers should request harmonized, line-item cost breakdowns from ICE and contractors to reconcile fiscal-year accounting with monthly contract invoices to get a definitive current per-detainee daily cost ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.

8. What to Watch Next — Data That Will Narrow the Dispute

Future clarity will come from synchronized disclosures: ICE publishing a post-2023 consolidated per-detainee cost for FY2024–FY2025, contractors releasing standard per-diem schedules and occupancy clauses, and audits reconciling invoice totals to actual detainee-days. Monitoring these releases will show whether the mid-2025 downward estimate holds or whether facility-level occupancy guarantees continue to push effective per-detainee costs above the national average, resolving the current divergence between aggregated and contract-implied figures ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.