The Big Business of ICE…“like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

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Written By Barbara Isaacman

QUICK READ: The vast majority of individuals detained by ICE are held and processed through private for-profit immigrant detention facilities and prisons that stand to earn billions for their involvement in a system of gross injustice, physical violence, and abuse. And your tax dollars are paying for it.

 
CONTENTS:

BACKGROUND

 

Trump and MAGA Republicans want billions to detain and deport immigrants at a rate unprecedented in American history. Amidst the multitude of ICE’s daily alarming human rights and civil liberties violations is its oversight of the companies running its private for-profit detention camps and prisons. The companies dishing out this brutality rake in hundreds of millions—and your tax dollars are paying for it.

ICE, housed in the Department of Homeland Security, claims to need $45 billion by 2027 and $175 billion by 2035 to construct and run incarceration camps and to bankroll migrant transportation, security guards, medical support, and electronic surveillance. “All this,” according to Eunice Cho at the ACLU’s National Prison Project “is a disastrous waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that will only line the coffers of the private prison industry.”

For-profit immigrant detention facilities already hold the vast majority of individuals detained by ICE and manage the top twenty private detention centers, and reopening jails for ICE will bring them additional billions. 

Private detention contractors, like GEO Group, saw their $4 billion stock value double on Election Day. GEO Group will earn another billion from its 15-year contract to reopen and run a Newark jail, while CoreCivic has a 5-year $246 million contract to reopen a single Texas family detention center. 

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons wants the agency to become as efficient at deporting immigrants as e-commerce giant Amazon is at delivering packages, proudly announcing: “We need to get better at treating this like a business…like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

ACTION One: Call the Senate.

Script for Oregon Senators

SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753

My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

SEN. WYDEN:

Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Republican Senators

D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

ACTION TWO: Call the House.

Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)

Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)

Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Maxine Dexter (OR-03)

Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Val Hoyle (OR-04)

Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Janelle Bynum (OR-05)

DC office: 202-225-5711

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

Script for Andrea Salinas (OR-06)

Salem office: 503-385-0906 | DC office: 202-225-5643

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].

I am outraged my tax dollars are being used to pay for inhumane conditions and intentional cruelty common at many ICE private detention centers. This is not what I voted for and it goes against what we stand for as a nation. I demand immediate Congressional hearings to investigate and punish the corporations behind this massive for-profit operation and the removal of ICE funding from the reconciliation bill. Communities across the country do not want a carceral economy. Rather than investing billions of dollars to carry out ICE operations, we want investment in education, housing, climate resilient infrastructure, and health care for all. Our Members of Congress must unite and advocate for immigrants’ rights and humanity. We value them and recognize that they are important parts of our community.

FURTHER READING

Barbara Isaacman
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