CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEOct. 12, 2016
US must end booming immigration detention businessMaria Cristina Garcia, an expert on immigration reform and professor of history at Cornell University, says reports that the Department of Homeland Security might soon run out of money to detain illegal immigrants should be a sign that the government must stop paying for private facilities and choose cheaper alternatives to detention instead.
Biography: http://history.arts.cornell.edu/faculty-department-garcia.php
Garcia says: “Immigration detention is a booming business – so much so that the Geo Group once put in a bid to name the football stadium at Florida Atlantic University. Private companies house nearly half of the nation’s immigrant detainees. There are much cheaper and equally effective alternatives to detention that many immigrant and refugee aid organizations have relied on these for years.
“Since 1996, the United States has relied on detention as both deterrent and safeguard against those who might pose a security threat. Private companies like the Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group run many of these detention facilities, which are very expensive.”
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