news report re Homeland "Security" contract for concentration camps in the USA]

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [IP] Homeland "Security" contract for concentration camps
in the USA
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:43:52 -0800
From: Brock Meeks <Brock.Meeks () msnbc com>
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>

Looks like it's legit.  The following AP story ran in the Dallas Morning
News.  The contract is mentioned at the very end of the piece.

Advocates decry detention "gold rush"

02/02/2006

By SUZANNE GAMBOA  / Associated Press


The post-Sept. 11 push to lock up immigrants is creating a detention bed
"gold rush" without the equivalent enforcement to ensure detainees'
legal and human rights are protected, a panel of immigration advocates
said Thursday.

Private prison corporations and local governments are benefiting from
Congress' rush to crack down on immigrants as some lawmakers look to
score political points by getting tough on immigration, the advocates
said.

"This cash cow feeds expansion even as the nation's prison population
declines," said Andrea Black, Detention Watch Network coordinator. Black
moderated the panel discussion organized by the American Bar
Association.

Other panel members said they already have difficulty ensuring detainees
get access to lawyers, phones, translators, timely medical care and
other basics and are concerned how such things will be provided as more
beds are built or contracted for with local governments.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd rebuffed the
assertions, saying the agency will not loosen its standards and
enforcement of standards as it builds more detention space to house
immigrants.

Boyd said all detention facilities and contracted beds must comply with
ICE national standards, which were crafted by ICE and the ABA. They also
must be accredited by the American Correctional Association. ICE
standards "are more stringent than Federal Bureau of Prisons" standards,
he said.

The facilities are inspected annually by an internal inspections
division. He did not know how many inspectors are in the division. Any
allegations of wrongdoing are referred to the Inspector General for
investigation, he said.

Black said the Department of Homeland Security has been appropriated $1
billion for detention this year, including $90 million for detention
beds. But that may grow. A House bill mandates more detentions with
changes in law that would make more immigrants felons.

The private prison industry has attributed its industry rebound, in
part, to the rapid increase in immigration detentions. Many detainees
are housed at facilities run by Corrections Corporation of America and
GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut.

Some groups consider Texas "ground zero" for what they call the
immigration detention boom. The state has at least 7,000 recently built
or proposed private prison beds for housing immigrant detainees for ICE
or the U.S. Marshals.

"Since 9/11 there's just been an immigrant gold rush to the border,
particularly in South Teas where there is an enormous amount of
developmental activity going on with private consultants who contact
local county officials and offer them promises there will be federal
contracts if they will expand their jails," said Judith Greene, a policy
analyst for Justice Strategies, a New York research group.

Private prison companies are competing for a "superjail" in Laredo, a
2,800-bed facility, that would mostly hold immigration detainees, Greene
said.

In December, Corrections Corporation of America announced a contract
with ICE to hold up to 600 immigrant detainees at its correctional
center in Tyler.

KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., has an up to $385 million contract
with the Army Corps of Engineers to set up temporary processing,
detention and deportation facilities for ICE.

ICE told The Associated Press Tuesday the contract was a "contingency
contract" in which KBR would build the detention space "should there be
some sort of emergency, say some sort of upheaval in Latin America, that
would cause a mass migration." KBR had a similar contract for 2000 to
2005.

Halliburton, whose chief executive was Vice President Dick Cheney from
1995 to 2000, has been criticized for multibillion-dollar government
contracts granted it for work in Iraq without a bid process. KBR is a
construction and engineering company.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 5:31 PM
To: Brock Meeks
Subject: Re: [IP] Homeland "Security" contract for concentration camps
in the USA

thanks



Brock Meeks wrote:
> Dave,
>
> This is not for your list but a personal comment.  
>
> This meme of the government contracting for "concentration camps" has
> been floating around the Net for the last couple of years.  I don't
know
> if anyone actually checked with KBR or ICE to see if this "news"
release
> is real or a hoax; frankly, it smells a bit fishy to me.  
>
> I'm traveling at the moment, not able to look into this fully, but
once
> I hit Washington again, I'll try and make a few calls to either
confirm
> or debunk this.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 3:59 PM
> To: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: [IP] Homeland "Security" contract for concentration camps in
> the USA
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Homeland "Security" contract for concentration camps in the
USA
> Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:06:33 -0800
> From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
> To: dave () farber net
> References: <43FC3B2D.1040309 () farber net>
>
> Step by step by increasingly-predictable step.
>
> The really chilling part is that -- right up-front, they say (below)
--
> these new concentration camps ("detention facilities" if you prefer
the
> other spin) are "to support the rapid development of new programs" ...
> or "react to a national emergency".
>
> Just exactly what "new programs" are in "rapid development"?  What
kind
> of "national emergency" would require such concentration camps?
>
> Oh ... I see ... it's "in the event of an immigration emergency" ...
in
> case of "an emergency influx of immigrants."  (Gawd forbid we'd just
> promptly deport them, when a third of a billion dollars can be
channeled
> to a corporate friend!)
>
> But no! -- it's not that kind of "national emergency".  They want to
> these concentration camps to "help" in event of "a natural disaster".
> Oh, of course!  Our government wants multi-use concentration camps --
to
> house quake or twister or flood victims, AND imprison fence-jumpers.
>
> And who better to build'n'operate them than our Vice-Chickenhawk's
very
> own Halburton?!
>
> --jim
>
> >
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62C8724D%2DAE8
>
A%2D4B5C%2D94C7%2D70171315C0A0%7D&dist=SignInArchive&param=archive&sitei
> d=mktw&dateid=38741%2E5136277662%2D858254656
> > SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- KBR, the engineering and construction
> > subsidiary of Halliburton Co.  (HAL  :
> > Halliburton Company said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency
> > contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its
> > Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an
> > emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million
and
> > consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. KBR held
the
> > previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005. The contract, which is
> > effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention
> and
> > processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal
> > Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of
> > immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new
> > programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention
> > support to other government organizations in the event of an
> immigration
> > emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a
national
> > emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.
>
> -------------------------------------
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