Private prison companies are spending millions of dollars lobbying congressional lawmakers to pass legislation that increases immigrant custody, according to the Associated Press.
“It’s a millionaire’s business, and they are living off profits from each one of the people who go through there every single night,” said Pedro Guzman, a former detainee in a Corrections Corporation of America facility.
This year alone, U.S. taxpayers will pay private companies more than $2 billion to detain 400,000 immigrants, according to the AP.
In the last decade, CCA, the GEO Group, and Management and Training Corporation spent roughly $45 million on campaign donations and lobbyists at the state and federal level, according to the AP.
Top recipients were the Republican and Democratic parties, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.:
Brain Evans, the chief financial officer for the GEO Group, told investors: “Another factor driving growth…for the private sector is in the area of immigration and illegal immigration specifically,” the AP reported.
A decade ago, the Federal Bureau of Prisons signed two 10-year contracts to pay CCA $760 million to house more than 3,300 criminal immigrants. The FBP is now under 13 different contracts with private prison companies, housing more than 23,000 criminal immigrants. The taxpayer cost of the contracts is $5.1 billion.
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