The Federal Government's new immigration policy means indefinite detention for refugees and housing migrant families in unlicensed facilities. This means putting children in prisons made out of places that do not meet State standards for facilities housing children.
To save money, in the past the victims of private contractors providing "unlicensed facilities" have testified in the Flores case and reports have been made public that these places bought migrants including their children lousy food at cheaper prices; kept concrete pens cold, and paid staff people less money with less training than say day care workers monitored by the State. That and similar testimony are what the Flores lawsuit has been all about since the lawsuit began in 1985.
The new policy of indefinite confinement in unlicensed facilities means that new places are needed to put these people. We have been provided photos of tent cities and there are reports of new construction.
With the new policy, the stocks of private prison companies are up. See In These Times, "These Private Prison Companies Are Already Profiting Off of Trump's Order on Family Separation," by David Dayen (posted online on Friday, June 22, 2018), available at http://inthesetimes.com/article/21234/private-prison-trump-family-separation-immigration-ice.
The policy before this one accomplished the objective for a lot less money. Migrants who crossed the border without documentation, a misdemeanor, were basically released on their own recognizance, monitored by a case manager. Although there was a cost for the salaries of case managers, of course, there was zero cost for renting or building facilities.
Ninety-nine percent (99%) of these undocumented showed up for their hearings in immigration court in which immigration judges decide whether they can stay in this country. The cost? Ten percent (10%) of what tent cities and new construction are going to cost. Plus of course the additional costs paid by the children in ruined lives.
But the good news, I suppose, is that now 100% of the undocumented instead of 99% will show up at their immigration trials for ten (10) times the Federal taxpayer money.
At the very least, this is a very clear case of the Federal Government wasting taxpayer dollars.
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