The More Things Change...

On the one-year anniversary of the Obama administration's pledge to reform the immigration detention system, little has changed for the nearly 400,000 immigrants detained here every day. And despite charging hundreds of millions of dollars per year to incarcerate these immigrants, the private prisons that house them still inflict needless suffering by depriving immigrants of medical and mental health care. There are more detentions and deportations under Obama than there were under Bush; all he has done is extend Bush's policies towards immigrants, yet the conservative right is all riled up about him not deporting more people.

The system is overcrowded and run largely by private corporations that are far more concerned with their bottom line than providing things like medical care or a humane living environment. Oversight of these contractors is poor at best; a sexual assault occurred in one of these facilities while they had government agents on duty. It is foolish for America to continue giving taxpayer money to these companies, to continue on this track of incarcerating ever more immigrants, ever more people. As the prison market has grown increasingly privatized the corporations who profit most directly from it have become more effective at circumventing oversight, maximizing profit by denying needed services, and molding political relationships that ensure they retain business despite the fact that they do nothing right or moral or even efficient.