By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“End the quota. End the quota.”
Some 50 activists staged a rally protesting quotas at the ICE detention facility in Elizabeth. The fed government pays a private company about $160 per person per day to run what amounts to a jail here, for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally — some seeking political asylum, including one man represented by lawyer Alexandra Gonsalves-Pena.
“He has been detained for over a year and a half. Close to 520 days,” said Gonsalves-Pena.
She says her client fled persecution in the African nation of Togo.
“He comes here, instead of welcoming him to the U.S., releasing him to his family members who have lawful status in the U.S. — he instead is being detained in facilities which we know have entered into contracts,” Gonsalves-Pena said.
A report by Detention Watch Network revealed local quotas — that obligate ICE to pay for a specific number of private beds at 12 field offices across the country — including the Elizabeth facility run by Corrections Corporation of America. It’s paid $40 million for 285 beds.
“And they require that a certain number of people — or guarantee, actually — that a certain number of people are detained at any point in time. And they also function as taxpayer backed insurance for a private company which we just think is an egregious use of taxpayer dollars,” said Detention Watch Network Policy Director Mary Small.
“34,000 immigrants are being detained at any given time, including the site we’re standing in front of,” said American Friends Services Committee Organizaing and Advocacy Director Chia-Chia Wang.
That costs taxpayers $5.5 million per day, $2 billion a year, the report says — a business incentive to detain people, activists claim.
“The government is putting a dollar sign in our faces and treating us as dollars, something to sell, something to buy — not as human beings,” said Unidad Latina en Accion NJ Founder Jorges Torres.
“I think it’s inhumane. I think it’s cruel. They’re profiting on human people, human bodies,” said Gonsalves-Pena.
But CCA says, it doesn’t treat people like commodities, and “…is committed to treating all individuals in our care with the dignity and respect they deserve. CCA… has more than three decades of experience managing facilities in partnership with the federal government.”
Officials from ICE stated, it “…remains committed to sensible, effective immigration enforcement that focuses its limited detention space on those who fall within our previously stated priorities, including recent border crossers, convicted criminals and other public safety threats.”
CCA says it creates an environment here that’s safe, appropriate and open for all residents. But critics say, people here aren’t residents — they’re imprisoned. That’s far from “open.”