Who Profits from Migrant
Detention? Follow the Money.
By Maryann
Vazquez
When
it was announced that the Trump administration was detaining more migrants and
separating children at an increasingly rapid rate, initially I thought he was
just pandering to a racist base. However, I now believe it to be a case of
corporate greed or perhaps something far more nefarious.
As
news outlets often do, they give the human costs of holding detainees,
heart-tugging stories of families torn apart; details of human rights
violations, and inhumane living conditions; children kept in cages alone,
without parents and even without any comfort from an adult. It was all very
disturbing and upsetting. News sources then began breaking down the financial
costs in addition to the emotional costs. The costs of detainment under the “no
tolerance policy” were compared to the Obama Administration policy of keeping
families together.
The
gap between the two is startlingly huge.
The Family Case Management Program used during Obama’s term – a program
that delivered a 99% effectiveness rate in managing immigrants with ankle
monitors, while they were awaiting court hearings and check-ins with
immigration authorities - cost $36 dollars a day! But instead of continuing this successful and
inexpensive program, the Trump administration ended it in June 2017 and decided
on a more expensive option. Detention center costs can be between $140-$200 a
night per person, or families can be kept together with a price tag of
$300-$375 per night. Further, the rate of immigrant detention is accelerating
to the point it has become necessary to set up tent cities near the border for
about $700 to $800 a night.
Who
would have known that providing shelter to migrant children as well as migrant
adults could be so (expletive) lucrative? Well, it turns out that locking up
children is big business, meaning big contracts for big donors! Let’s see who
benefits most.
According
to Open Secrets and several other sources, some of the biggest beneficiaries
are GEO Group, headquartered in Boca Raton Florida; Core Civic of America,
Nashville; and Southwest Key Programs, an Austin based non-profit that has
received close to $600 million dollars in the past two years. What is probably
more disturbing than the contracts these organizations have been awarded is
what some of them have donated, and to whom.
A subsidiary of Core Civic donated $250,00 toward the Trump inaugural
festivities, GEO Group donated $250,00 to the Trump inaugural committees, and
one of its subsidiaries gave $225,00 to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Have I
gotten your interest yet? Watch this
space next month!
