Guarding the American Gulag: A Canadian Company is at the Heart of U.S. Migrant Detention/Abuses

The Canadian Irony: GardaWorld’s Deepening Role in Trump-Era and State-Run Migrant Detention Camps

A Canadian “security” company is at the center of Trump’s abuse/deportation of migrants across the United States, including Alligator Alcatraz. And Canadians want some answers.

In the sweltering Florida Everglades, a sprawling camp of white tents and chain-link fences has risen practically overnight. Nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” this remote compound sits on an abandoned airfield about 50 miles west of Miami. Inside, hundreds of immigrant detainees describe “inhumane” conditions: four days without a proper shower, maggots in the meager meals, and harsh floodlights that never turn off, leaving them sleepless amid swarms of giant mosquitoes. “We’re human beings; we’re not dogs,” one detainee protested by phone, likening their treatment to feeling “like rats in an experiment”. This disquieting scene would be shocking on its own – but adding to the irony is who has been enlisted to run security at the camp. The task of guarding this American deportation outpost has been outsourced to a private company from Canada.

A Trump-Era Crackdown, Powered by Canadian Guards

Florida officials opened Alligator Alcatraz in early July 2025 with capacity for up to 3,000 migrants awaiting deportation. The project is the brainchild of Gov. Ron DeSantis, ostensibly to assist former President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown. In fact, Trump himself (eyeing another term) toured the Everglades camp alongside DeSantis and other GOP officials, praising its role in what he calls a mass deportation plan. Amid the fanfare – even the Florida GOP started selling “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise as if it were a theme – few noticed the subtle corporate logo on the guards’ uniforms. Florida has quietly contracted GardaWorld, a Montreal-based security firm, to help operate and secure the campthelogic.co. The Montreal company’s deal, reportedly worth up to $8 million, makes it one of the key private vendors running Alligator Alcatraz.

That a Canadian company is now effectively managing a U.S. immigrant detention camp is a jarring twist. Trump’s hyper-nationalist agenda famously trumpeted “America First,” yet here is his immigration crackdown being carried out with the help of a foreign corporation. Florida’s arrangement underscores how the machinery of border enforcement increasingly relies on outsourced security contractors – whoever can do the job, regardless of nationality. GardaWorld’s involvement also highlights how post-Trump immigration policy is blurring lines between state and federal action. The Biden administration’s officials insist they haven’t “authorized or funded” Florida’s camp, but DeSantis touts that Washington will reimburse the state’s $450 million effort. In practice, Florida is acting as a proxy for federal immigration detention – and GardaWorld is the hired muscle, making it possible, stationed on U.S. soil far from its Canadian headquarters.

From Armored Cars to Migrant Camps: GardaWorld’s Rise

To understand how a Canadian firm ended up guarding America’s deportation camps, one must look at GardaWorld’s origins and evolution. The company was founded in Montreal in 1995 by Stephan Crétier, an ambitious entrepreneur who raised $25,000 by mortgaging his home. Initially a small operation, GardaWorld started out providing armored car services and security guards. Over the past 25+ years, Crétier relentlessly expanded the business through acquisitions and global contracts, turning GardaWorld into one of the world’s largest private security enterprises. Today the firm generates over $5 billion in annual revenue and boasts 122,000 employees worldwide – a growth trajectory that has made Crétier a billionaire and a power player in the security industry.

GardaWorld’s portfolio ranges from guarding banks and airports to protecting diplomats in war zones. A 2014 profile memorably described its core business as “renting out bands of armed men” in some of the world’s most dangerous places. The company eagerly moved into conflict zones during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing opportunity in chaos. Crétier once frankly admitted that civil unrest is “good for business” – whether it’s a war overseas or protests at home, turmoil creates demand for private security. Backed by major investors (including Québec’s public pension fund and private equity firms), GardaWorld bought up competitors and even attempted a takeover of the British security giant G4S in 2021 (That bid failed, but it signaled GardaWorld’s appetite to dominate the global security and detention market, as G4S is a major contractor for deportations and migrant transport in its own right).

By the late 2010s, GardaWorld began moving aggressively into the immigration detention and migrant services sector – first in Canada, and then in the United States. In its home country, the company secured contracts since 2015 to run detention centers for the Canada Border Services Agency. GardaWorld guards oversee federal immigration holding centers in Vancouver and Laval (near Montreal), where asylum-seekers and undocumented immigrants are held in jail-like conditions. Reports of abuse and neglect have plagued these Canadian facilities: in 2020 and 2021, detainees in the Laval center launched multiple hunger strikes protesting “life-threatening” conditions, including excessive solitary confinement and lack of medical care during COVID-19investigate.afsc.org. One immigrant held there died in custody in January 2022 after being found in medical distress. Watchdog groups accused GardaWorld guards of retaliating against the hunger strikers by conducting disruptive cell searches and even denying detainees access to drinking water as punishment. In short, GardaWorld’s entry into the immigration detention business sparked considerable controversy on Canadian soil – a troubling omen for its later ventures in the U.S., especially considering GardaWorld is a Canadian Company.

Quiet Contracts with ICE and HHS

GardaWorld’s foray into U.S. immigration enforcement flew under the radar at first. During the height of the Trump administration’s border crackdown, the firm was not as publicly visible as the American private prison giants (like GEO Group and CoreCivic) running ICE detention centers. But behind the scenes, GardaWorld was positioning itself for a piece of the pie. The company’s U.S. subsidiary, GardaWorld Federal Services (formerly Aegis Defense Services), landed contracts with federal agencies to provide security at immigration facilities. By 2021, as the U.S. faced a post-Trump surge of migrants and refugees, GardaWorld emerged as a player in the emergency shelter network set up to handle overflow from the border.

One prominent example was the giant Fort Bliss tent camp in El Paso, Texas – the largest such site the U.S. government ever opened for unaccompanied migrant children. In spring 2021, thousands of minors who had crossed the border were housed in hastily erected canvas tents on the Fort Bliss Army base. GardaWorld was never officially announced as a contractor there, but investigative reporting later uncovered that GardaWorld staff were on the ground at Fort Bliss, hired through federal subcontracts. What transpired at that camp has since become a stain on the Biden administration’s record – and on GardaWorld’s as well. A scathing 58-page report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General singled out “substandard living conditions” and gross mismanagement at Fort Blissblockclubchicago.org. Children were jammed into warehouse-sized tents with cots stacked end-to-end, lacking basic hygiene and suffering deteriorating mental health after weeks without proper counseling or case managers. Whistleblowers described filth and despair, with some kids enduring panic attacks and even riots in the overcrowded tents. A BBC investigation later unearthed allegations of sexual abuse at the camp, as well as lice and COVID outbreaks, “hungry children being served undercooked meat,” and a general environment of fear.

GardaWorld has denied responsibility for the worst problems at Fort Bliss – a spokesperson claimed the company was not handling “case management” and refuted accusations of unsafe practices. But the fact remains that GardaWorld’s guards and support staff were part of the Fort Bliss operation, which became a humanitarian fiasco. Notably, no public bid or contract award for GardaWorld’s role was disclosed at the timeblockclubchicago.org. It was only through LinkedIn profiles and job postings that observers pieced together GardaWorld’s presence, raising concerns about the opacity of using private contractors in such sensitive roles. “The lack of publicly available information about this company’s [migrant sheltering] operations is equally as troubling as what [it] has been alleged to be involved in,” said an analyst who investigated GardaWorld’s contracts.

From Texas to Chicago: Lucrative Deals and Local Backlash

Even as controversies at Fort Bliss simmered, GardaWorld continued to win immigration-related contracts across various levels of government. In June 2023, El Paso County, Texas (which includes the city of El Paso) awarded GardaWorld a $2.7 million contract to help transport migrants released from federal custody. Under that deal, GardaWorld buses would ferry hundreds of asylum-seekers per day from Border Patrol processing centers to shelters or airports. The irony was hard to miss: despite Fort Bliss being criticized for “gross mismanagement”investigate.afsc.org, the same company was now being paid by a local government to handle migrants in the community. But officials, desperate to manage the influx at the border, pressed ahead with the private security firm.

Around the same time, city and state governments far from the border also turned to GardaWorld as they grappled with the ripple effects of America’s migration pressures. In Chicago – a self-declared sanctuary city that saw thousands of newcomers arriving via bus from Texas – Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration quietly signed a $29 million contract with GardaWorld in September 2023. The plan was for GardaWorld to build and run “winterized base camps” with heated tents to shelter asylum seekers who had been sleeping on police station floors. The contract (inked without fanfare) only became public after sharp-eyed reporters found procurement records. When Chicagoans learned who had been hired, an outcry ensued. Community organizers and some city officials blasted the move, citing GardaWorld’s “checkered history” and the dire conditions alleged at facilities the firm helped run in Texas and Canada. The backlash echoed that in Denver, where the outgoing mayor had abruptly canceled a proposed $40 million contract with GardaWorld earlier in 2023 after similar public protests In both liberal cities, the notion of a controversial security contractor running migrant shelters proved deeply unpopular, and plans were scaled back or halted.

For GardaWorld, however, these deals represented a major expansion into a new market: emergency migrant housing in U.S. cities. Chicago’s contract went forward (at least on paper), and by late 2023 GardaWorld was establishing tent sites on the city’s south side. The company, better known for guarding embassies in war zones, now found itself providing cots and kitchens for families in America’s urban neighborhoods. This pivot did not come from nowhere – GardaWorld had positioned itself as a go-to vendor for crisis deployments, having previously been hired to build field camps after natural disasters like hurricanes. Still, the optics of a private security firm with a trail of human-rights complaints getting paid tens of millions to manage humanitarian shelter for refugees was troubling to many observers.

Even Florida’s governor tapped GardaWorld’s services beyond the Everglades camp. In 2022, Gov. DeSantis infamously orchestrated flights sending planeloads of unwitting migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard and other Democratic-led areas. When Florida later sought contractors for an expanded migrant relocation program, GardaWorld was among the firms chosen to execute the scheme. (The company says that particular contract “was never activated” and that it has “not been involved in transporting” migrants to or from Chicagoblockclubchicago.org. Nonetheless, its selection shows how intertwined the company has become with hardline immigration stunts and policies.)

Pattern of Controversy and Criticism

GardaWorld’s growing role in the U.S. immigration crackdown has not come without serious controversy. In fact, the company seems to leave a trail of alarming allegations whenever it wades into this field. Human rights advocates and journalists have documented a pattern of problems at facilities under GardaWorld’s watch – from North America’s northern border to the southern. A few of the most disquieting examples include:

• Fort Bliss, Texas (2021): As described, the emergency child detention camp at Fort Bliss – where GardaWorld provided security and staffing – was rife with filthy, overcrowded conditions and woefully inadequate care for traumatized children. Federal investigations confirmed that some youths endured panic attacks, depression, and even riots in the tents, and that untrained contractors struggled to maintain order. Whistleblowers said many children felt “like they were in prison” and begged to be released. Such was the “gross mismanagement” at Fort Bliss that basic necessities like clean clothes and even pencils were scarce at times.

• Laval, Quebec (2020–2022): In the Canadian immigration holding center run by GardaWorld, detainees launched three hunger strikes to protest “life-threatening” conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. They complained of being locked down for 23 hours a day, with limited access to showers or phones. Multiple reports say GardaWorld guards retaliated against protesting detainees by conducting frequent searches and denying water, exacerbating health risks. Tragically, an asylum-seeker in GardaWorld’s custody died at this facility after staff allegedly failed to address a medical emergency.

• Environmental and Legal Troubles in Florida (2025): The Alligator Alcatraz camp itself, barely a week old, was immediately hit with lawsuits and complaints. Environmental groups sued to stop the project, arguing that plopping a massive jail camp in the delicate Everglades was done illegally without proper environmental review. They point out that floodlights from the camp now cast an eerie glow over the swamp for miles around, disrupting wildlife. On the humanitarian front, civil rights lawyers and immigration advocates have raised alarms about lack of due process and oversight at the camp. Florida officials have blocked media and even lawmakers from freely accessing the site, fueling concerns about what’s happening inside those tents. Early detainee accounts – such as the Cuban musician who described no water for showers and maggot-ridden food – have only intensified scrutiny.

• Company Track Record: Beyond the migrant sphere, GardaWorld is no stranger to scandal. A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that the firm’s U.S. armored truck division repeatedly cut corners on safety – using faulty vehicles and overworked drivers – resulting in numerous crashes and at least 19 deaths on American roads. The same investigation revealed GardaWorld had lost track of millions of dollars in cash it was transporting, and concealed the losses from bank clients. Separately, a GardaWorld subsidiary was caught falsifying training records for security guards deployed to Afghanistan, prompting a whistleblower lawsuit alleging fraud on the U.S. government. Perhaps most chillingly, one of GardaWorld’s acquired companies (Aegis Defense Services) was accused of recruiting former child soldiers from Sierra Leone to serve as mercenary guards in Iraq. This tapestry of misconduct suggests a corporate culture willing to bend rules in pursuit of profit – a worrying background for a firm entrusted with vulnerable migrant populations.

The Irony and the Alarm

There is an undeniable irony in this entire situation. America’s ultra-hardline immigration crackdown – epitomized by Trump’s rhetoric and DeSantis’s Everglades camp – has created a lucrative business opportunity for a Canadian security contractor. It’s a cross-border marriage of convenience that raises hard questions about accountability and values. U.S. officials, eager to appear “tough” on migrants, have effectively handed the keys of detention facilities to a private company operating for profit, one that is outside U.S. public scrutiny and even headquartered abroad. This outsourcing can shield government agencies (and politicians) from direct responsibility when abuse or neglect occurs. After all, if conditions turn abhorrent, officials can point to the contractor and claim ignorance or distance, much like Trump’s allies now insist the federal government isn’t liable for Florida’s camp because it’s “state-run”.

For GardaWorld, stepping into America’s immigration dragnet is simply the next big market. The company’s founder, Crétier, recently orchestrated a $14 billion deal to take back majority ownership of GardaWorld, betting on its future growth. The Québec government even lent GardaWorld $300 million in 2022 to aid its expansion, but it now finds itself distancing from the Florida project amid public outcry. The spectacle of a Canadian province effectively subsidizing a company to detain migrants in Florida is almost too rich in irony. Canadian leaders have often criticized U.S. immigration detention practices; yet, a Canadian firm is profiting from them. “We have nothing to do with that camp,” Québec officials scrambled to assert when questioned, as human rights groups lambasted Alligator Alcatraz’s.

Ultimately, the rise of GardaWorld in U.S. immigrant detention shines a light on the privatization of pain. The detention and deportation regime – especially as envisioned by Trump 2.0 and his allies – is poised to be big business for those willing to run camps and transport human cargo. It also highlights how the cruelty of such policies often gets obscured: hidden behind euphemisms (“processing center,” “emergency intake site”) and outsourced to private entities that operate in the shadows of public accountability. A migrant locked in a sweltering tent with bugs and bad food might not know or care who GardaWorld is – he only knows he’s suffering at the hands of uniformed guards. But for the rest of us, it matters that those guards wear a GardaWorld patch. It speaks to a global commodification of enforcement, where even a nation’s toughest crackdowns are delivered as a service by multinational corporations.

As the U.S. hurtles into another heated election cycle, with promises of renewed mass deportations, we should pay close attention to who is actually carrying out these policies on the ground. The story of GardaWorld – from Canadian armored car operator to warden of Alligator Alcatraz – is a cautionary tale. It reminds us that when governments outsource and privatize the dirty work of detention, accountability becomes diffuse and human suffering can too easily become just another contract line-item. The involvement of a Canadian company in America’s migrant camps is both deeply ironic and deeply disturbing. And it forces a question: If the business of cracking down on immigrants has become borderless, who will stand up for the basic rights and dignity of those caught in the middle?