WASHINGTON, 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 processing

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.

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 that 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.