Presentation Title
The Immigration-Industrial Complex: Blurring the Lines of Private Enterprise and Public Interest
Degree Name
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Department
Social Work
Location
UW Y Center
Start Date
21-5-2015 5:10 PM
End Date
21-5-2015 5:15 PM
Abstract
America’s immigration system has increasingly become the subject of controversy in recent decades, with political leaders stuck in a veritable “stalemate” in regards to reform. But, what if there are other players in the game who stand to profit from such legislative stagnation? This presentation will explore such possibilities and the influences of private immigration detention conglomerates on the public interest.
There is perhaps no greater blurring of public and private lines than in the privatization of prison and detention services. As a former detention officer in the nation’s fourth largest immigration holding facility, Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center, I gained insight into the rarely discussed phenomenon of for-profit immigration detention. The immigration-industrial complex is a highly lucrative enterprise, in which several corporations have reaped billions of dollars contracting the commodity of human confinement. In order to turn the maximum profit, executives must maintain a profitable bottom line in specific regard to the implications on those who are confined within such facilities. The multi-billion dollar detention industry’s extreme potential for profit has created a need to sustain and grow monetary returns, which positions cost and savings vs human well-being. Additionally, there is widespread evidence suggesting the top private prison corporations spend millions of dollars lobbying for restrictive immigration policy. Several ethical questions arise in the market of for-profit immigrant detention, namely: Should the well-being of immigrants be at the liberty of profit driven shareholders or government entities? Is it ethical for private prison corporations to lobby for an immigration policy that criminalizes immigrants and fills their pockets?
The Immigration-Industrial Complex: Blurring the Lines of Private Enterprise and Public Interest
UW Y Center
America’s immigration system has increasingly become the subject of controversy in recent decades, with political leaders stuck in a veritable “stalemate” in regards to reform. But, what if there are other players in the game who stand to profit from such legislative stagnation? This presentation will explore such possibilities and the influences of private immigration detention conglomerates on the public interest.
There is perhaps no greater blurring of public and private lines than in the privatization of prison and detention services. As a former detention officer in the nation’s fourth largest immigration holding facility, Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center, I gained insight into the rarely discussed phenomenon of for-profit immigration detention. The immigration-industrial complex is a highly lucrative enterprise, in which several corporations have reaped billions of dollars contracting the commodity of human confinement. In order to turn the maximum profit, executives must maintain a profitable bottom line in specific regard to the implications on those who are confined within such facilities. The multi-billion dollar detention industry’s extreme potential for profit has created a need to sustain and grow monetary returns, which positions cost and savings vs human well-being. Additionally, there is widespread evidence suggesting the top private prison corporations spend millions of dollars lobbying for restrictive immigration policy. Several ethical questions arise in the market of for-profit immigrant detention, namely: Should the well-being of immigrants be at the liberty of profit driven shareholders or government entities? Is it ethical for private prison corporations to lobby for an immigration policy that criminalizes immigrants and fills their pockets?