Meanwhile, his immigration judge, a notoriously tough one with an asylum case denial rate of 87 percent, has rejected Pedro’s pleas for bond and residency under an asylum program known as the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), under which two of Pedro’s siblings have gained residency. Pedro is now appealing with the BIA for both these issues, continuing to fight his case from the inside.
Prolonged Detention
The average length of stay in detention is 37 days, according to ICE, but the ACLU says these numbers are significantly skewed by Mexican nationals, who are often subject to expedited removal.
An Associated Press system snapshot found that, on the evening of March 15, 2009, at least 4,170 people had been detained for six months or longer. Of these, 2,362 were still fighting removal cases before immigration courts.
Pedro is lucky to be among the 16 percent of immigrants, according to the ACLU, who are represented by attorneys.
Fannin Anello, an attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project, says another issue with prolonged detention is the trampling of prisoners’ due process rights. “Under the government’s interpretation of the mandatory detention law, many people with viable legal challenges to deportation continue to be deprived of their liberty for many months or years,” Anello says, adding, “even though they have never had a bond hearing to determine whether detention is necessary in their individual cases.”
Laying Down the Law
Federal laws such as those surrounding the penalties for drug crimes also contribute to prolonged detention. Due to his two marijuana convictions, received in 1998 and 1999, Pedro was not eligible for bail.
Three-strikes and truth-in-sentencing laws also contribute to a more punitive system. These pieces of legislation and their desired policy outcomes began their life at ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council.
ALEC is the nation’s largest public-private legislative partnership, which counts among its members more than 2,000 state lawmakers, about one-third of the nation’s legislators and more than 200 corporations and special interest groups. Included in this list is the Corrections Corporation of America.
Central components of ALEC include 10 task forces that work to develop model legislation in different areas, one of which is the Civil Justice task force.
“I am aware personally that CCA executives have been on the board of ALEC,” says Friedmann. “The argument there is that CCA is being actively involved in an organization that pushes policy and legislation and therefore benefits the private prison industry.”
Though federal law forbids corporations from helping form legislation, any ALEC bill must be approved by both its public and private sector members. Of the group’s $6.9 million in annual revenue, about $5.6 million come from its corporate members.
According to an article by Beau Hodai of In These Times, Arizona’s recent anti-immigrant bill, SB1070, is very similar to model legislation crafted by ALEC.
Furthermore, CCA retains the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona and would benefit greatly from heavier immigration enforcement in the state. During the bill’s formation, Hodai reports, CCA enlisted Highground Consulting to represent it in Arizona.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s spokesman, Paul Senseman, was employed by an organization that lobbied for CCA, and his wife works with the Policy Development Group, which also lobbies for CCA. Brewer’s chief policy adviser also lobbies for an organization of which the CCA is a “board level” member.
But CCA’s ties with legislators do not end on the state level. According to Hodai, CCA spent nearly $3.5 million in 2005 for lobbying on immigration and national security, $3.25 million in 2007, $4.4 million between 2008 and 2010 lobbying the Department of Homeland Security, and more than $175,000 during the 2010 election cycle. Of 43 CCA lobbying disclosure reports acquired by Hodai, only five do not express the intention to monitor immigration reform.
CCA has targeted its lobbying at both Republican and Democratic legislators. It has donated money to the Democratic Congressional and Senatorial Committees, the GOP, senators on the appropriations committee, and the subcommittee on Homeland Security.