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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operates the largest immigration detention system in the world.
The federal government spends more on immigration enforcement than on any other federal enforcement agency in the country.
CoreCivic and GeoGroup (GEO) have acquired billions of dollars in revenue from the for-profit prison and detention center systems in the U.S. and abroad since the 1980s.
CoreCivic, founded in 1983, is the largest private prison corporation in the world. The company owns and operates over 100 correctional and detention centers across the country. CoreCivic was the first company to design, build and operate a migrant detention facility in the U.S.
GEO, the second largest private prison organization in the world, is a Florida-based company specializing in privatized corrections, detentions and mental health treatment. It also operates both prisons and migrant detention centers in the U.S. and abroad.
Both companies are currently contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build, design and operate migrant detention facilities across the country.
ICE heavily depends on the private sector in most aspects of immigrant detention.
The agency told reporters from U.S. News that 72% of beds for migrant detention were in privately run facilities in 2016, up from 49 percent in 2009.
According to USA Spending, since President Donald Trump took office, ICE has awarded over $480 million in federal funds to GEO and over $331 million to CoreCivic.
An analysis from Bloomberg Government found the total fiscal spending in 2018 on immigration detention was $7.4 billion, a $2.1 billion increase since 2014.
CoreCivic and GEO received boosts in total profit of $85 million and $121 million over that period.
In 2018, CoreCivic reported $1.83 billion in revenue, almost half of which came from federal contracts with U.S. Marshals, the Bureau of Prisons, which also holds detained immigrants, and ICE. Contracts between CoreCivic and ICE account for 27 percent of the company’s revenue according to a financial report by the company.
GEO runs 14 ICE detention centers with a combined capacity of 14,966 people. In 2017, GEO surpassed CoreCivic to become the largest operator of ICE facilities in the U.S., receiving over $500 million in contracts from ICE that year.
A 2016 study from researchers at the entitled The Central European Journal of International and Security Studies (CEJISS), however, found considerable links between private prisons companies and immigration policies in the U.S. An example highlighted in the study is Arizona, where at least two private prison companies, CoreCivic and GEO, appeared to play a role in crafting immigration policy in Arizona.
Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 (SB1070) is aimed at preventing illegal immigration into the U.S. from the Arizona border to Mexico. Passed in 2010, SB1070, officially named Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of a person they have “reasonable suspicion” of being "undocumented".
30 of the 36 co-sponsors of the bill had received political contributions from the private prison industry, including from GEO and Core Civic.
The law drew criticism because of its resemblance to “Stop and Frisk”, and the provision allowed officers to search individuals without a warrant based on “probable cause of unlawful presence.”
When SB1070 was drafted, both CoreCivic and GEO were involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that directly works with corporations to draft legislation at the state level.
The private prison industry has accrued significant political influence by investing heavily in funding the campaigns of candidates from both sides of the aisle. Big names in politics have accepted thousands of dollars from the companies:
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), for example, received thousands of dollars from CoreCivic in 2018 alone. GEO Group gave money to additional Super PACs that backed Florida Republican politicians Sen. Marco Rubio and Reps. Brian Mast and Matt Gaetz. Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar won reelection after taking $36,000 from the prison industry.
The private prison industry has also devoted significant resources towards state and federal lobbying efforts. According to a CEJISS study, “Five separate iterations of the Private Prison Information Act have been introduced in Congress since 2005, and each bill has been defeated by vigorous lobbying efforts on behalf of the private corrections industry.”
The Private Prison Information Act proposed in 2017 would have allowed for more transparency and oversight into how private prisons across the U.S. are managed. It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations but has not advanced to the floor for a vote since.
Allen Orr, president of the AILA, explained that for-profit detention centers have contracts with the federal government, specifically ICE, that include a mandatory headcount quota in the detention centers.
“Senators aren’t even allowed [in immigration centers], so lawyers are definitely not allowed in,” said Orr.
CoreCivic and GEO have shareholders that profit from these corporations’ success. WellsFargo owns a large number of shares in CoreCivic.
The five biggest shareholders of CoreCivic are The Vanguard Group, Fidelity/FMR LLC, State Street Corp., Blackrock and Prudential Financial Inc.
JP Morgan owns approximately 2.25 percent of GEO, owning over a million shares in both CoreCivic and GEO.
2018 filings with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), JP Morgan owns 202,953,903 shares in CoreCivic and 2,975,344 shares in GEO.
The federal government spends more on immigration enforcement than on any other federal enforcement agency in the country.
CoreCivic and GeoGroup (GEO) have acquired billions of dollars in revenue from the for-profit prison and detention center systems in the U.S. and abroad since the 1980s.
CoreCivic, founded in 1983, is the largest private prison corporation in the world. The company owns and operates over 100 correctional and detention centers across the country. CoreCivic was the first company to design, build and operate a migrant detention facility in the U.S.
GEO, the second largest private prison organization in the world, is a Florida-based company specializing in privatized corrections, detentions and mental health treatment. It also operates both prisons and migrant detention centers in the U.S. and abroad.
Both companies are currently contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build, design and operate migrant detention facilities across the country.
ICE heavily depends on the private sector in most aspects of immigrant detention.
The agency told reporters from U.S. News that 72% of beds for migrant detention were in privately run facilities in 2016, up from 49 percent in 2009.
According to USA Spending, since President Donald Trump took office, ICE has awarded over $480 million in federal funds to GEO and over $331 million to CoreCivic.
An analysis from Bloomberg Government found the total fiscal spending in 2018 on immigration detention was $7.4 billion, a $2.1 billion increase since 2014.
CoreCivic and GEO received boosts in total profit of $85 million and $121 million over that period.
In 2018, CoreCivic reported $1.83 billion in revenue, almost half of which came from federal contracts with U.S. Marshals, the Bureau of Prisons, which also holds detained immigrants, and ICE. Contracts between CoreCivic and ICE account for 27 percent of the company’s revenue according to a financial report by the company.
GEO runs 14 ICE detention centers with a combined capacity of 14,966 people. In 2017, GEO surpassed CoreCivic to become the largest operator of ICE facilities in the U.S., receiving over $500 million in contracts from ICE that year.
A 2016 study from researchers at the entitled The Central European Journal of International and Security Studies (CEJISS), however, found considerable links between private prisons companies and immigration policies in the U.S. An example highlighted in the study is Arizona, where at least two private prison companies, CoreCivic and GEO, appeared to play a role in crafting immigration policy in Arizona.
Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 (SB1070) is aimed at preventing illegal immigration into the U.S. from the Arizona border to Mexico. Passed in 2010, SB1070, officially named Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of a person they have “reasonable suspicion” of being "undocumented".
30 of the 36 co-sponsors of the bill had received political contributions from the private prison industry, including from GEO and Core Civic.
The law drew criticism because of its resemblance to “Stop and Frisk”, and the provision allowed officers to search individuals without a warrant based on “probable cause of unlawful presence.”
When SB1070 was drafted, both CoreCivic and GEO were involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that directly works with corporations to draft legislation at the state level.
The private prison industry has accrued significant political influence by investing heavily in funding the campaigns of candidates from both sides of the aisle. Big names in politics have accepted thousands of dollars from the companies:
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), for example, received thousands of dollars from CoreCivic in 2018 alone. GEO Group gave money to additional Super PACs that backed Florida Republican politicians Sen. Marco Rubio and Reps. Brian Mast and Matt Gaetz. Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar won reelection after taking $36,000 from the prison industry.
The private prison industry has also devoted significant resources towards state and federal lobbying efforts. According to a CEJISS study, “Five separate iterations of the Private Prison Information Act have been introduced in Congress since 2005, and each bill has been defeated by vigorous lobbying efforts on behalf of the private corrections industry.”
The Private Prison Information Act proposed in 2017 would have allowed for more transparency and oversight into how private prisons across the U.S. are managed. It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations but has not advanced to the floor for a vote since.
Allen Orr, president of the AILA, explained that for-profit detention centers have contracts with the federal government, specifically ICE, that include a mandatory headcount quota in the detention centers.
“Senators aren’t even allowed [in immigration centers], so lawyers are definitely not allowed in,” said Orr.
CoreCivic and GEO have shareholders that profit from these corporations’ success. WellsFargo owns a large number of shares in CoreCivic.
The five biggest shareholders of CoreCivic are The Vanguard Group, Fidelity/FMR LLC, State Street Corp., Blackrock and Prudential Financial Inc.
JP Morgan owns approximately 2.25 percent of GEO, owning over a million shares in both CoreCivic and GEO.
2018 filings with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), JP Morgan owns 202,953,903 shares in CoreCivic and 2,975,344 shares in GEO.
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