Open Ended
Why did GEO Group and CoreCivic contribute to Trump’s campaign and other politicians?
- infulence policy
- ensure that immigration detention remained profitable
- ensure strict immigration enforcement
how long has detainee pay been a dollar a day?
1978 - eek.
What word describes a policy or action that is meant to make people suffer for breaking a rule, rather than to help or rehabilitate them?
What is puniative
True or False: The essay claims that private prison companies have no influence over politicians or policy decisions.
False! they have hella infulence
Are immigration violations civil infractions or criminal crimes, and which one are they treated like?
Civil infractions, not criminal crimes. But in practice, ICE detention treats people like criminals, with harsh conditions, forced labor, and long confinement. For example, thats like going to prison for littering.
How does Trump’s language about immigrants affect how people view detention centers?
- he dehumanizes immigrants "criminals" "rapists" "problems"
- framing immmigrants as criminals
- supports profit motives, "detention is neccessary", helping priviate prisons like GEO Group and Core Civic profit
- shifts focus from human rights
how much do detainees get get paid
1 dollar a day
This term describes the economic system that drives private prisons to exploit detainees for cheap labor in order to maximize profits?
What is Capitalism
What happens to detainees when they say refuse their "volentary labor"?
They lose necessary resources, like food, or they could be put in isolation.
True or False, Immigrants commit more crimes than native-born Americans
FALSE! there is no correlation between immigrants and crime rates
Between 1980 and 2022, the immigrant share of the U.S. population more than doubled, from 6.2% to 13.9%, while the total crime rate dropped by 60.4%, from 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people (American Immigration Cuoncil)
How does calling the detainee work “voluntary” change how people think about it?
- makes exploitation seem acceptable
-downpplays human rights viloation
Prisions companys have given millions of dollars to fund this US Presidents campaign
Who is Donald Trump
This term is the idea of protecting the interests of native-born citizens against those of immigrants, and the idea that immigrants are seen as outsiders or threats to society.
What is nativism?
Who or what is ICE, what do they do?
U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal agency that enforces immigration laws, inclusing detaining and deporting noncitizens.
who said this?
"[Mexico is] sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists"
Trump
How does Trumps rhetoric justify detainment, what are some things he says?
- you could say anything racist here and proabally be right
- framing them as dangerous, and neccessary to get them out of our country
- dehumanizes them, turns them into "other"
- anything along those lines
By 2020, what percent of people detained in private prisons were ICE detainees
81%
This term is the belief that punishment and jails are the best way to fix problems, describing a system that relies on punishment to address social problems
What is Carceralism
what are ways private prison companies can infulence policies and politics
-Lobbying (sending millions to lawmakers who have power over policy)
-high profile events (like confrences at Trump resorts) to build relationships with infulencial politicans
-Donating to politicians’ campaigns and super PACs to gain political favor.
-Pushing for stricter immigration laws, higher bed quotas, and harsher detention policies that increase the number of people in their facilities.
How might public perception of immigrants change if politicians or media framed them differently?
- Public perception could be more sympathetic and understandingIf politicians didn’t label immigrants as criminals or threats
- people might see them as humans with rights, rather than “others” to be punished.
- could lead to less support for harsh detention policies and more support for humane treatment.
Do you think profit should ever be tied to detention or incarceration? Why or why not?
yes or no, explain
Why do investors or companies profit when detention / immigration policies get harsher? Why do they want more immigrants detained?
They make more money! higher detention rates means more beds filled, more labor to exploit, and higher profits for companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic
These three systems - Nativism, Carceralism, and Capitalism - work together to cause this kind of abuse
What is forced labor (or labor trafficking)
This admentment says forced labor is allowed only as a punishmet for a crime
What is the 13th Amendment
Since 2020, the number of humans in ICE detention on an average day has soared from 7,500 to what?
50,000