Noteworthy – Human Rights and The Prison Industrial Complex, USA

Immigration Detention: The Golden Goose for Private Prisons
Prisoners and People at Risk, Refugee and Migrant Rights, USA | Posted by: Sarnata Reynolds, June 10, 2011 at 3:18 PM

For many months now, states all over the U.S. and the federal government have taken steps to “get tough” on undocumented immigrants of color without taking into account the fact that workers are crossing the border because U.S. employers are desperate for their labor and no visas exist to permit their entry.

Instead of spending their time tackling this reality, which if actually addressed might create a basis for the nondiscriminatory enforcement of immigration laws, legislators are instead continuing to introduce bills, such as Rep. Lamar Smith’s H.R. 1932.

These bills throw more money at detention centers and enforcement operations and ups the ante by making their imprisonment mandatory and indefinite, regardless of Supreme Court precedent finding that it’s unconstitutional. …more