"The private prison industry spends millions to persuade Congress to keep in place a quota system that keeps as many as 34,000 immigrants locked up, many in for-profit detention centers.
A report from the Grassroots Leadership says private prison corporations that contract with theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) spent almost $17 million over six years to lobby Congress to maintain the volume of immigrants in detention centers. The largest private prison company,Corrections Corporation of America, spent $10.5 million on lobbying 'on issues related to immigrant detention and immigration reform,' according to the report."
Detention and the #ShutDownHutto Campaign
On any given day, at least 34,000 people are detained in immigrant detention centers in the U.S. to meet an arbitrary lock-up quota dictated by Congress. Stopping the quota would be a giant step forward in ending our reliance on detention. Grassroots Leadership researches and exposes the role of for-profit prisons and their lobbyists in enacting the quota contributes to the growing national movement to stop immigrant detention.