LatinaLista — As the presidential candidates trade promises on what will be done with reforming the nation’s immigration policy, there’s no denying that detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants is at its highest levels ever. Yet, while critics and supporters of today’s policy focus on the enforcement and deportation aspects, everyone seems to be overlooking what happens in between the time undocumented immigrants are picked up and deported.
They usually are in detention at one of the hundreds of facilities operated by the private prison industry. Al Jazeera English, in a recent Fault Lines investigation, traveled to Texas and Florida to investigate what has become big business — immigrant detention. In the process, they discover that an industry, working behind the scenes to garner lucrative government contracts, has been a major player in shaping US immigration policy.
