Yes, you read that correctly. Required. The law is called the “bed mandate” and calls for the U.S. to keep 34,000 immigrants incarcerated every day, regardless of whether such a high number makes any policy sense. The rule represents a perfect storm of xenophobia and America’s exceptional fondness for solving all of its problems by throwing someone in a jail cell — and it’s even more problematic than you’re imagining.
“According to Bloomberg, nearly two-thirds of detainees are housed in for-profit prisons. The corporations that run these prisons, which have a troubling record of poor management, high levels of violence and prisoner neglect, are flourishing financially and politically active.In 2013, Bloomberg reported that they were funneling money directly to the people in Washington who oversee immigrant incarceration: Since the 2008 elections, Corrections Corp., Geo and Management and Training Corp., the three biggest prison operators, have donated at least $132,500 to the campaigns of members of congressional subcommittees that appropriate money to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and determine how much is spent on incarceration, according to the data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based nonprofit group that tracks campaign spending.“
Broke Bohemian 