As the Bush administration gets tougher on illegal immigration and increases its spending on enforcement, some of the biggest beneficiaries may be the companies that have been building and running private prisons around the country. By the fall of 2007, the administration expects that about 27,500 immigrants will be in detention each night, an increase of 6,700 over the current number in custody. At the average cost these days of $95 a night, that adds up to an estimated total annual cost of nearly $1 billion. (New York Times, Wednesday)
Giving privatization a bad name.
FEE Timely Classic
Immigration: Friend or Foe? by James E. McClure and T. Norman Van Cott