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The 49ers' playoff hopes are still teetering even after get-right game against the Bears
On Thursday, the 27th day of December, 2024, I took a break from the feasting of the season to tidy up some deals. The drive was for business. I was the one behind the wheels. And my schedules were numerous. An appointment at my bank in Gwarinpa, and another with my barber. There was also an appointment with a course-mate to finetune some deals. My bank schedule popped up as the first. It was while on my way to the bank, that I spotted a team of Vehicle Inspection Officers doing their routine check which has come under motorists’ hammer. Professional, I will score this team as good. I spotted them pull a driver over. Surprisingly, the driver pretended to comply only for him to zoom off, forcing the team members to scamper for safety. The sight left me puzzled, not because it is a new development, but because of the thought of the risk traffic officers go through daily in the course of policing our roads with some maimed or even killed. With just a couple of days until the end of 2024, and a divine grand entry into 2025, I do not know whether to be excited or sad. Please do not get me wrong as I am excited and grateful to God for seeing 2024 come to a joyful end and awaiting 2025 with numerous promises. But while we regale over this wonder which can only be through the mercies of God Almighty, there are a handful who perished between 1st January, 2024, to 28th December,2024, while some couldn’t even make it through the first week of 2024.As we navigate through with prayers, fasting and guidance from God, there is need for us to remember that God owns the universe. No matter how powerful God is, He is not licensed to drive cars on earth because He is bound by His own laws which allows driving pastime for us humans. I am compelled by the scene I cited and other incidents reported across the nation, to remind us of some of the driving habits that claim lives and cause severe injuries, as a guide to staying alive as we navigate the remaining days of 2024. Before I dwell on these habits, I don’t know whether you believe in God because there are those who don’t. A good friend of mine recently told me that irrespective of our belief, everyone has his appointed time on earth, but must we be irresponsible and drive dangerously because we feel so? I don’t know what you think about my questions but I must confess that it worries me each time I observe traffic, especially on Fridays and Sundays when the faithful of the two major religions worship God. The case is not different during periods such as Christmas and other festivities such as Sallah when we throw decency to the wind all in the name of celebration without a thought for our safety and the safety of our loved ones. What kind of impatience would cause a parent to drive a vehicle, that has practically every member of his family, against traffic, creating multiple lanes whether in the city centres or on major highways? What values do such parents think they inculcate in their children? With a few days to the end of 2024, I believe that we need to help commuter drivers stay safe on the road and maintain safe driving practice by avoiding hazardous behavior, adopting defensive driving techniques to ensure that they keep their eyes and minds on the road and their hands on the wheel. “Many drivers on our nation’s roads and highways pose a safety threat to themselves and others and so you must be extra careful. The list of hazardous driving offenders and their bad driving habits are shared as a guide starting with beauty queens: Some drivers have been known to apply makeup (e.g, lipstick, mascara) while driving. This is the pastime of our female drivers with some male converts too. But it is very easy to lose control of a vehicle if both hands are on the steering wheel and eyes are not on the road. Drivers should put away all makeup products and keep them out of reach while driving. The hungry commuter should also be avoided; eating while driving is another habit that results in driving without both hands on the wheel. Drivers who are eating cannot react as quickly to sharp curves or properly handle lane changes because their hands are full. Drivers should take extra time to eat before they leave or plan a roadside stop to eat. The Gen-z/Tech-Obsessed: Even with state laws that prohibit sending text messages or talking on cell phones while driving, people still use their technology gadgets while driving. Studies especially in some developed climes have shown that about 25 percent of drivers admit to regularly or fairly often talking on cell phones while behind the wheel”. Drivers should refrain from this, as it slows down reflexes and takes attention off the road. The Sleepy travelers: Commuters sometimes refuse to pull over when they feel tired. A similar study found nearly a third of people admitted to driving when they had trouble keeping their eyes open. Sleepy drivers should find a rest stop and poll over if they feel unable to keep their eyes open and concentrate. I recall writing on daydreaming and phoning. The daydreamers are to be avoided. These drivers get lost in their thoughts and do not think about what they are doing. Drivers should focus on the road, rather than personal problems or to do lists. The next are Road Ragers: These drivers tailgate, cut off other drivers and anger easily while driving. Those prone to such behaviors should plan for sufficient time to reach a destination and work on having patience. If driving is too stressful, consider alternative modes of transportation. The Rule Breaker: Speeding, not wearing a seat belt, and disregarding traffic signs and signals are habits of rule breakers. Drivers must take proper precaution and obey the rules of the road to ensure safety and to avoid costly tickets. Speed is another commandment. The Traffic regulations specify different speeds for different vehicles. This is because speed is one of the critical factors identified by the World Health Organization and World Bank as responsible for increased fatalities. What this simply means is that your chances of survival while driving should you be involved in a crash are dependent on your speed. So, if you are a speed freak, watch that speed. Don’t forget that as you speed, anything can happen such as tyre burst, brake failure or even a pedestrian crossing the road. Whenever you speed, remember that at 100km/ph a vehicle moves at 28 meters per second on a road. The speed limit for private cars on an expressway is 100km/ph. Taxis and buses are allowed to maintain speed limit of 90km/ph on an expressway while articulated vehicles like tankers and trailers are to maintain speed limits of 60km/ph on the expressway and 50km/ph on the highway. Within built-up areas, taxis and buses are to maintain speed limits of 50km/ph. However, you must note that common sense often dictates lower speed limits. Common sense speed should therefore be lower in bad weather, or bad roads. The same should apply when the roads are busier. Globally, defensive driving is the ‘voodoo’ to safety on the road. It is therefore an all-round medication. A defensive driver assumes he is the only sane person on the road. Since crashes are caused by individual errors, he is always cautious, obeys all rules, and develops the right attitude such as patience, care, skill and consideration for other road users. A defensive driver never allows his safety to depend on the response of others, anticipates wrong actions of others, and always gives correct, prompt, adequate and clear signals.
Flag football scours nation with talent camps to uncover next wave of starsWREXHAM made it two home wins in the space of four days with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Lincoln City in League One. James McClean's shot in the second half which went in off a Lincoln defender proved to be the difference between the sides as Phil Parkinson's men remain second in the table and unbeaten at The Racecourse. The Reds didn't play as well as they did in Saturday's 3-0 success against Exeter City but the result is all that matters. Wrexham, without a game this weekend, remain four points behind leaders Wycombe Wanderers. After his side produced a superb display against Exeter, Parkinson named an unchanged side against Lincoln. Wrexham saw a lot of the ball in the early exchanges and George Dobson headed wide from McClean's cross. Lincoln came more into the game and Reds' goalkeeper Callum Burton made a brilliant reflex save to keep out Paudie O'Connor's header from Sean Roughan's free-kick. Another Imps set-piece caused problems with Bailey Cadmarteri putting his effort wide. Wrexham came back into it and Ollie Palmer went down under Erik Ring's challenge in the area but no penalty was given. Lincoln had the upper hand and a low free-kick into the area was deflected just over the bar by a Wrexham player. There was a sight of goal for Wrexham when McClean, who found himself in a central position, crossed to the back-post but Palmer's shot went across goal. Jack Moylan fired wide on the turn for Lincoln and there was an even better chance for Wrexham when Lewis Brunt's header struck the top of the crossbar from McClean's free-kick just before the break. Palmer's header from Dobson's cross was saved by keeper George Wickens with the first opportunity of the second half but it was a subdued performance by the Reds. It got better as Palmer took a cross down and fired over and Wrexham took the lead in the 67th minute. Dobson picked out McClean in the area and his shot found the back of the net off defender Tendayi Darikwa. Palmer headed straight at Wickens from Barnett's cross but Lincoln weren't out of it. Jack Moylan and Jovon Makama both went close while Rob Street wasn't far away in added time before Barnett shot wide for Wrexham and one goal proved to be enough. Wrexham (3-5-2): Burton; Cleworth, O'Connell, Brunt; Barnett, Dobson, James (James 77), Rathbone (O’Connor 89), McClean; Lee (Mullin 73), Palmer. Subs not used: Howard, Scarr, Revon, Faal. Lincoln City (3-5-2): Wickens; Darikwa, O'Connor, Roughan; Ring (Hamilton 72), McGrandles (McKiernan 82), Erhahon, Moylan, Jefferies; Cadamarteri (Draper 72), Makama (Street 82). Subs not used: Pardington, Jackson, Duffy. Attendance: 11,786 (631 from Lincoln).
( ) recently reported fiscal fourth-quarter (Q4) 2024 results that came in weaker than expected, but the stock soared on the news. Investors who missed the bounce are wondering if BMO stock is right now and good to buy for a self-directed Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) portfolio focused on and total returns. Bank of Montreal stock price Bank of Montreal trades near $143 per share at the time of writing. The stock recently surged above $146 and is up about 9.5% in 2024. The rally since September is largely due to interest rate cuts in the United States and Canada. Bank of Montreal has a large American presence that dates back to its purchase of Harris Bank in the 1980s. Over time, Bank of Montreal has grown the U.S. business through strategic acquisitions, with the most recent being the US$16.5 billion purchase of California-based Bank of the West in early 2023. The surge in interest rates in 2022 and 2023 put some commercial borrowers in a difficult situation. Households that have had to renew mortgages at much higher rates have also taken a hit. As a result, Bank of Montreal and its peers have increased provisions for credit losses (PCL) to cover potential defaults. Bank of Montreal reported PCL of $1.52 billion for fiscal Q4 2024 compared to $446 million in the same period last year. For full-year fiscal 2024, BMO set aside $3.76 billion in PCL compared to $2.18 billion in fiscal 2023. The Q4 PCL number is the largest among the Canadian banks. Bank of Montreal has some loans in the commercial banking segment of the American business that caused the PCL number to be higher than analysts had expected. Looking ahead, BMO expects PCL to moderate through 2025. The interesting thing about the earnings results is that the stock initially plunged to below $127 on the news and then rallied to $146. The reason might be that investors believe PCL will decline in the coming quarters. Another catalyst for the move higher might have been the 3% dividend increase and the news that BMO plans to buy back up to 20 million shares. Risks Rising unemployment in Canada could continue in 2025 and 2026 as the economy slows down. Interest rates are expected to continue to decline as the Bank of Canada tries to keep the economy from weakening too much, but lower rates might not be enough to offset the impact of job losses. Roughly one million Canadian homeowners face mortgage renewals in 2025 at rates that will be meaningfully higher than when the loans were initially taken in 2020. If defaults surge, the Canadian banks could be in for a rough ride. South of the border, there is a risk that the central bank will decide to put rate cuts on hold or even raise rates again if inflation moves higher. This could occur if Donald Trump implements tariffs next year on all goods entering the country. Should you buy Bank of Montreal now? Investors can get a decent 4.4% dividend yield from BMO stock at the current price, so you get paid well to ride out the turbulence. That being said, new investors might want to wait for a better entry point. The stock is already starting to give back some of the recent gains. Considering the size of the rally over the past three months and the uncertainty heading into 2025, a pullback wouldn’t be a surprise in the near term.
Ludhiana: Police filed a case against three men for allegedly snatching more than Rs 1 lakh from the two employees of a finance company in Jagraon. Chandigarh resident Laxman Murgan, who works in a micro finance company, said that he went to Ghalib Kalan village with his associates for work. The complainant said that he had Rs 52,000 whereas his associate had Rs 50,000. He said that they were leaving the village after meeting clients when the three masked men, who were armed with iron rods, surrounded them. He said that they snatched around Rs 1 lakh as well as a mobile phone from them. Police filed a case under Section 304 BNS (Snatching) at Sadar Jagraon police station. Further investigation is on. We also published the following articles recently Gold ornaments worth lakhs snatched from jeweller In a daring daylight robbery in Rayagada district, Odisha, two motorcycle-borne miscreants snatched a bag containing over 500 grams of gold ornaments, worth lakhs, from a jewellery shop owner. The incident occurred Monday morning as Santosh Kumar Sahoo was opening his shop in Ambadola. One miscreant grabbed the bag while Sahoo was unlocking the door, and they quickly escaped. Two held for snatching chain Chennai police apprehended two young men, Mohammad Sheik Sikkander and Parvesh Musharraf, on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in a chain-snatching incident that occurred in Mylapore on November 30th. A 19-gram gold chain and the motorcycle used in the crime were recovered. The duo, residents of Saidapet and West Saidapet respectively, are now in custody. Further investigation is likely underway. Spate of break-ins, snatchings keep Trichy police on alert A spate of burglaries and snatchings has Trichy police on high alert. A fruit shop in Manapparai was robbed of 1.47 lakh, while a farmhouse near Vaiyampatti lost 90,000 worth of bronze items. A photo studio in Pirattiyur also reported stolen electronics. Two chain-snatching incidents led to arrests, with stolen phones recovered. Police are investigating the break-ins and increased patrols. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .
Surveillance tech advances by Biden could aid in Trump’s promised crackdown on immigrationUAE airlines keep link to Israel
C3 AI Announces Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Financial ResultsAvior Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF ( NASDAQ:BSSX – Free Report ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC owned 0.43% of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF by 50.3% in the second quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 11,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF in the second quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF in the second quarter worth $159,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF by 82.3% during the second quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,428 shares during the period. InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF Price Performance Shares of InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF stock opened at $25.95 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.07. InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $24.62 and a fifty-two week high of $27.59. InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF Increases Dividend InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF Profile ( Free Report ) The Invesco BulletShares 2033 Municipal Bond ETF (BSSX) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks a market-value-weighted index of investment-grade AMT-Free municipal bonds that mature by the end of 2033. BSSX was launched on Sep 20, 2023 and is issued by Invesco. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for InvescoBulletShares2033 Municipal Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Stock Price Down 2.3% – What’s Next?By SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Declares Cash Dividend of $1.32 per Common Share for 4Q24, an Increase of 2 Cents Over 3Q24, and an Aggregate of $5.19 per Common Share for 2024, an Increase of 23 Cents, or 5 Percent, Over 2023
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By SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. Related Articles The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.None
