One of the least reported stories regarding Arizona’s immigration legislation is how the law came into effect and who benefits most from its passage. Now, thanks to investigative reporting by Laura Sullivan and NPR, the facts have become public.
The “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” if upheld by the courts, requires police to lock up anyone they stop who cannot show proof they entered the country legally. Theoretically, the law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison––and it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies.
According to the NPR report, last December Arizona state senator Russell Pearce met with a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. The group included state legislators, corporations and associations, such as Reynolds American Inc., Exxon/Mobil, the National Rifle Association, and Corrections Corporation of America — the largest private prison company in the country.
Pearce and the lobbyists wrote the above named bill in four days. Pearce then took it to the Arizona legislature. Of the thirty-six co-sponsors who signed on to the bill, two-thirds of them either attended the December meeting or were ALEC members.
Thirty of the 36 co-sponsors received donations over the next six months from prison lobbyists or prison companies. Two of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s top advisers, spokesman Paul Senseman and campaign manager Chuck Coughlin, are former lobbyists for private prison companies.
While it’s not illegal to have lobbyists write legislation, the NPR investigation reveals the close and very questionable ties Pearce, Brewer, and other legislators have to the corrections industry, which stands to make a huge profit if the courts uphold the law.
Supporters argue that the law is necessary to stem the tide of illegal immigration across the Mexican border. But after the NPR investigation, it’s hard not to view the law as a shallow and pernicious attempt by lobbyists and the Corrections Corporation of America to funnel huge profits to the prison industry by playing on the fears of Arizona residents.