Table of Contents
Executive Summary
As the policy advisor for the Geo-Group, I believe that you should pursue one of the three of the following recommendations. Your ultimate goal should be to expand detention facilities to increase revenues, while also ensuring that they are safe, secure, and humane for immigrant families . The ultimate goals of the Geo-Group for the next 18 months should be to:
- Advocate for the government to pass legislation to transfer publicly run detention facilities to the private prison industry which will lead to facility expansion,
- Advocate for government to pass legislation to increase funding needed to improve security and training of detention facility staff,
- Partner with nonprofit legal service organizations, like the American Immigration Council , to provide legal counsel for the detainees.
This will not only improve the perception of Geo-Group in the media, but it will also improve the public perception of the Trump administration, as they will be seen as detaining immigrants in safe, humane, and legal facilities.
Background
There is much opposition coming from the American media, political parties, and powerful figures regarding the family detention policy. The Democratic Party, including Senate minority leader Charles Schumer, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will all be opposed to the policy proposals from Geo-Group. Their political affiliation, by being within the minority party, puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to enacting immigration legislation. Additionally, high-powered, pro-service groups that support immigration, like the U.S Chamber of Commerce and the Service Employees International Union will all oppose the proposed policies.
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Additionally, advocacy organizations like the ACLU who support legal and civil rights for all people will strongly oppose any policies that involve the detention of immigrants, especially immigrant families. These political parties and organizations have various mobilization capacities, but collectively, they have the potential power to convince powerful stakeholders to change their stance on immigration policy.
Luckily, the Trump administration, including his cabinet and appointees, and right wing congressional Republicans all believe that the United States needs to solve the illegal immigration problem, and although the family separation policy is not ideal, it serves as a necessary and immediate deterrent. They believe that the current solution to the problem is detention, and more facilities need to be built in order to successfully detain the vast amounts of new illegal immigrants in the country. These stakeholders will fight to fulfill their campaign promises of immigration reform, even though it has generated much negative publicity.
For a number of years, immigration has been a largely debated within US policy agenda. The present immigration detention policy is based on the Flores vs. Reno decision, which sets the guidelines for the holding of detained minors, and furthermore outlines the minimum standards that detention facilities must have. Because of the vague language within the agreement, each administration has executed the agreement in their own particular manner. Many people are uninformed that a crackdown on immigration isn’t unique to the Trump Administration.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations extradited unlawful immigrants which brought about the separation of families. Today the measure of detainments has risen exponentially as a major aspect of Trump’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ . Because of the outrage over family separation, and to the case of Ms.L vs. ICE, the Trump Administration has proposed detaining immigrant families for longer periods of time, however, families will be together in one detention facility. Yet immigration reform advocates propose that the detention framework ought to be nullified and families should be discharged into the US interior, potentially with a tracking and monitoring framework, until the point when they can be processed.
Recommendation
As the policy advisor for the Geo-Group, I believe that you should pursue one of the three of the following recommendations. Your ultimate goal should be to expand detention facilities to increase revenues, while also ensuring that they are safe, secure, and humane for immigrant families. The ultimate goals of the Geo-Group for the next 18 months should be to:
- Advocate for the government to pass legislation to transfer publicly run detention facilities to the private prison industry which will lead to facility expansion,
- Advocate for government to pass legislation to increase funding needed to improve security and training of detention facility staff,
- Partner with nonprofit legal service organizations, like the American Immigration Council, to provide legal counsel for the detainees.
However, when setting your priorities, it may be impossible to attain legal services for the detainees without losing potential revenue, and the American public may still not look unfavorably on the prison industry in general. I believe you should concentrate your efforts on lobbying the government for an increase in contracts and funding, and emphasize that the funds will not only be used to build more facilities, but safer facilities as well.
With the ultimate goal of the Geo-Group being to increase revenues, an increase in funding from the government, and more government contracts for detention facilities, will only happen if Geo-Group advocates for the government to pass legislation to increase government contracts for private prison facilities. Due to the current policies regarding family detention, new facilities are sorely needed, so this goal is feasible. The information conveyed to the various stakeholders within government, including the Republican Party and the Trump administration, should emphasize Geo-Group’s reputation, resources, and dedication to the administration’s policies to ensure that you successfully attain an increased number of contracts. However, those who oppose the family detention policy and advocate for a complete overhaul of the immigration system will strongly oppose the government increasing contract to Geo-Group, and this is an obstacle the Geo-Group will have to face in their advocacy efforts.
Advocating for the government to pass legislation for increased funding to improve training and security within detention centers is of utmost importance. Much negative publicity has occurred due to many unfortunate incidents that has taken please within Geo-Group detention facilities. Convincing the government to pass legislation to increase funding to improve training, and also to hire additional personnel, will allow Geo-Group to run more efficient and safer facilities. Safer facilities will mean better publicity, and hopefully will also lead to an increase in contracts and positive media attention. However, this will also not be as lucrative for Geo-Group, so I suggest pursuing the first recommendation in order to expand detention facilities and increase revenues.
The current perception of the Geo-Group, and the private prison industry in general, is largely negative, and partnering with an organization that offers legal aid for the detainees will greatly improve public perception of the organization. Opponents of family detention view the private prison industry as enablers, and that they are providing unsafe conditions to a vast amount of immigrants with the sole purpose of making a profit. To change this perception, Geo-Group should partner with the American Immigration Council to ensure that detainees have access to legal services, and are aware of their full legal rights. This move will help Geo-Group improve their reputation, which will hopefully lead to an increase in government contracts. However, you should know that the Republican Party is not necessarily in favor of providing illegal immigrants with legal support, in addition to this move not being particularly lucrative.
