The Department of Homeland Security has called for more immigration detention facilities to open along the US-Mexico border. And negotiations between a private prison company and the government have already begun in the Rio Grande Valley.
The US may be a pioneer in prison privatization, but its share of prisoners in private custodial facilities is way below Australia's and the UK's.
The data we have from the government is imprecise. But what is clear is that thousands of migrants are processed and detained in privately operated facilities each year.