The company at 545 Michigan in Grand Rapids that already has a contract with ICE, will now be using bounty hunters to track down immigrants for ICE

Since June 4th, the public awareness around the existence of the ISAP office in Grand Rapids has increased, since ICE agents arrested and detained immigrants who were coming to their scheduled appointments at the 545 Michigan St. office building.

Since then, GR Rapid Response to ICE has been providing accompaniment to people who have appointments at that office, along with those who go to the ICE office at 517 Ottawa NW, just north of the 196 overpass.

A lot more people have also learned about what an ISAP office is. ISAP stands for Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which is a program operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that provides an alternative to detention for individuals in immigration proceedings.

What is instructive about the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, is that it is run by BI Incorporated, which is a subsidiary of the GEO Group. The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison entities in the world, which also runs prisons that are specifically ICE Detention Centers.

In addition, BI Incorporated also sells location tracking devices, such as ankle bracelets or wrist bracelets that people have to wear, so that ICE or other cops can monitor their whereabouts.

Think about it this way. The people who come to appointments at the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, are in the ICE system. They have to access the BI SmartLINK app, which allows “for real-time communication between officers and clients,” according to the BI Incorporated page. If they have a wrist or ankle bracelet, that is also provided by BI Incorporated. When they come to an appointment at the ISAP office in Grand Rapids, that is owned by BI Incorporated. Lastly, if they are detained by ICE agents while coming to their appointments, which is what happened on June 4, they will be sent to detention, which will soon mean that they will be sent to the GEO Group ICE detention facility in Baldwin, Michigan.

BI Incorporated will now be using Bounty Hunters

On December 19th, The Intercepted reported that BI Incorporated has a new contract with ICE to use bounty hunters to track down immigrants for ICE. The article states:

Records show ICE has already paid BI $1.6 million, with the potential for the contract to grow to as much as $121 million by the time it concludes in 2027.

It was also recently reported that a Bulgarian man died at the GEO Group owned North Lake ICE Detention Center in Baldwin, Michigan, supposedly of “natural causes.” The MLive article failed to mention a more relevant aspect of the Bulgarian’s case, which was reported by the ABC affiliate in Chicago.

“Gantchev was one of hundreds of people that a federal judge in Chicago ordered released on bond last month, after his warrantless arrest was flagged as possibly violating the Castañon Nava consent decree in place. In court records, federal officials indicated Gantchev’s release was not considered a high risk to public safety.

Gantchev’s wife said the order initially renewed their hope that he would be released and could seek further medical treatment, as he was diabetic.

But when the order was blocked by the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court, Gantchev’s wife said her husband Nenko faced a difficult decision: Submit to voluntary removal from the country back to Bulgaria, or stay in custody at North Lake, hoping he would eventually be granted bond.”

Last week, I wrote about accompanying someone to the BI Incorporated-run ISAP office in Grand Rapids, where they once again threatened those of us who accompanied an immigrant going to their appointment, harassed that same immigrant and also took pictures of us while standing outside the building where the ISAP office is located, which is 545 Michigan in Grand Rapids.

What this all means:

• The GEO Group makes massive profits from ICE contracts to run detention centers where several people have already died in 2025 while in a GEO Group detention center.
• The GEO Group subsidiary BI Incorporated has a massive contract to run Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) offices all around the US and in Grand Rapids.
• BI Incorporated sells tracking devices like ankle and wrist bracelets, along with an app called BI SmartLINK, all of which allow ICE to track immigrants.
• Now BI Incorporated stands to make an additional $121 million in a contract with ICE to use Bounty Hunters to also track down immigrants.

This is how Capitalism functions, by profiting off of the cruelty inflicting by companies against immigrants. Welcome to America!