Federal Government Gives $1 Billion Deal to CCA to Build New Detention Facility

With the high surge in the number of Central Americans coming across the U.S. border over the past few years, the Obama administration entered into a four-year, $1 billion contract with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to build a detention facility to house women and children seeking asylum in the United States. Although this demographic traditionally has not remained detained while seeking asylum in the U.S., the administration reversed this policy in an effort to take a stronger stance on immigration issues. This has resulted in a huge increase in the number of beds available for family detention in the first years of the Obama administration (100) to over 3,000. Despite this monstrous contract, however, the border surge has continued, with the administration’s original immigration policy plans currently at a dead halt. In this unusual arrangement, CCA, the largest prison company in the nation, will receive $1 billion from the federal government, no matter how few or how many detainees actually end up housed in the facility. This is contrary to most detention contracts, which typically base the amount of the government’s payments on the amount of beds being occupied. CCA will receive payment for 100% capacity at two facilities, located in Dilley, Texas, and Karnes City, Texas, even if the facilities are half full, as they have been in recent months in 2016. As a result, CCA, which operates 74 separate detention facilities, earned 14% of its revenue from the South Texas Family Residential Center alone in 2015, the first full year in which the Center was operational. This has been quite a boon for CCA, whose revenue and profit reportedly had remained flat for the last five years. At this point, these family detention facilities house primarily Central American women and children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, driven from their native countries in large part due to rampant gang and drug-related violence. This high level of violence has caused these three countries to constitute three out of five of the world’s highest murder rates. Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C., has the experience that you need when you or a loved one is detained and facing deportation charges. We know how to gather the facts that are relevant to your case, assess your options, and determine whether you have any legal defenses that may enable you to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S. Contact the Oakland immigration attorneys at our office today and learn how we potentially can help you and your family through this difficult situation.