March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement and private prison operator GEO Group ( GEO ) have

brokered an agreement to open a federal immigration detention

center immediately in central Michigan, the company said on

Thursday.

The facility owned by GEO contains 1,800 beds and the

company expects to generate more than $70 million in annualized

revenue in its first full year of operation, it said. GEO

expects to finalize a long-term contract with ICE within a few

months.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agreement comes as Republican President Donald Trump

seeks to ramp up a wide-ranging immigration crackdown in a bid

to reduce illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border and deport

millions of immigrants.

A senior ICE official told reporters earlier this month that

detention capacity was maxed out at 47,600 detainees, well

beyond the agency's funded level of 41,500. ICE was working to

expand its bed count, including by partnering with other federal

agencies, the official said.

Legal experts, civil rights groups and Democratic

lawmakers have pushed back on the administration's use of rarely

invoked laws to justify some of its efforts including deporting

alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador and trying to

deport a lawful permanent resident.

GEO is one of the largest private prison operators in the

United States, with 50 facilities including detention centers

and correctional centers throughout the country, according to

its website.

Local media reported the facility had been a prison and the

economically depressed Michigan area's largest employer before

its closure in 2022, after then-U.S. President Joe Biden issued

an executive order aimed at ending the federal government's use

of private prisons.