The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children

[HumblePi]

Has anyone else wondered who is providing the tent cities in the desert for the 12,800 migrant children? I have wondered about this for a while. No, it's not the U.S. government running them as some may believe. Each of these centers are being operated by private companies. These contracts are worth billions of dollars to those who operate them. Digging a bit deeper, I began to uncover some not-so-surprising stories. Like this one. The DOJ is investigating Southwest Key Programs. How much sweeter could it be for Southwest Key Programs, they get all the children they can possibly warehouse in tents and all the billions paid to them are tax-free because they're registered as 'nonprofit' agencies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/migrant-shelters-border-crossing.html

The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children

HARLINGEN, Tex. — The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is not a multimillion-dollar business.

It’s a billion-dollar one.

The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs has won at least $955 million in federal contracts since 2015 to run shelters and provide other services to immigrant children in federal custody. Its shelter for migrant boys at a former Walmart Supercenter in South Texas has been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, but Southwest Key is but one player in the lucrative, secretive world of the migrant-shelter business. About a dozen contractors operate more than 30 facilities in Texas alone, with numerous others contracted for about 100 shelters in 16 other states.
===================================================================

I have my suspicions of course, that's all they are. I can't help but wonder if all of this hostage taking of children from parents is nothing but a big scam by powerful people in government just to bleed the U.S. of every penny it can and make their buddies wealthy? Twelve thousand, eight hundred $ children $

 

[apdst]

Has anyone else wondered who is providing the tent cities in the desert for the 12,800 migrant children? I have wondered about this for a while. No, it's not the U.S. government running them as some may believe. Each of these centers are being operated by private companies. These contracts are worth billions of dollars to those who operate them. Digging a bit deeper, I began to uncover some not-so-surprising stories. Like this one. The DOJ is investigating Southwest Key Programs. How much sweeter could it be for Southwest Key Programs, they get all the children they can possibly warehouse in tents and all the billions paid to them are tax-free because they're registered as 'nonprofit' agencies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/migrant-shelters-border-crossing.html

The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children

HARLINGEN, Tex. — The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is not a multimillion-dollar business.

It’s a billion-dollar one.

The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs has won at least $955 million in federal contracts since 2015 to run shelters and provide other services to immigrant children in federal custody. Its shelter for migrant boys at a former Walmart Supercenter in South Texas has been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, but Southwest Key is but one player in the lucrative, secretive world of the migrant-shelter business. About a dozen contractors operate more than 30 facilities in Texas alone, with numerous others contracted for about 100 shelters in 16 other states.
===================================================================

I have my suspicions of course, that's all they are. I can't help but wonder if all of this hostage taking of children from parents is nothing but a big scam by powerful people in government just to bleed the U.S. of every penny it can and make their buddies wealthy? Twelve thousand, eight hundred $ children $

We could use that money to build a wall and seal the border.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Has anyone else wondered who is providing the tent cities in the desert for the 12,800 migrant children? I have wondered about this for a while. No, it's not the U.S. government running them as some may believe. Each of these centers are being operated by private companies.

Pretty sure it's linked to the private corrections industry. The reason Republican politicos support this is because private correctional businesses fill their pockets.
Ultimately, if private corrections is allowed to continue as a growth industry it will distort our system of justice until all efforts are steered at incarcerating "the maximum FOR the maximum", and encouraging conditions that lead to as much crime as possible, empty beds don't make money.

The last brick in the wall is the eventual transition to private law enforcement.
Enter the era of "Robocop".
No, not the era of bipedal anthropomorphized mechanical policemen, the era of corporations like OCP.

 

[HumblePi]

We could use that money to build a wall and seal the border.

And overlook the corruption of the presidency? That's nonsense. We do not need any wall other than bollard fencing as we already have. That's the most we need where there isn't any. We do not need a wall and you and others that believe we will get a wall, are going to be very disappointed because it's just never going to happen.

 

[apdst]

And overlook the corruption of the presidency? That's nonsense. We do not need any wall other than bollard fencing as we already have. That's the most we need where there isn't any. We do not need a wall and you and others that believe we will get a wall, are going to be very disappointed because it's just never going to happen.

The border needs to be sealed.

 

[HumblePi]

There's a name that we can connect with the 'nonprofit' agency Southwest Key Programs, his name is Juan Sanchez and he's a Latino.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/southwest-key-migrant-shelters.html

Justice Department Investigating Migrant Shelter Provider

The Justice Department is investigating possible misuse of federal money by Southwest Key Programs, the nation’s largest operator of shelters for migrant children, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The inquiry could upend shelter care for thousands of children, escalating government scrutiny of the nonprofit even as it remains central to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. The charity operates 24 shelters to house children who were separated from their parents at the border or arrived on their own.

The United States attorney’s office for the Western District of Texas is examining the finances of Southwest Key, based in Austin, and whether it misappropriated government money, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the inquiry. Prosecutors on the case are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

[Captain Adverse]

And overlook the corruption of the presidency? That's nonsense. We do not need any wall other than bollard fencing as we already have. That's the most we need where there isn't any. We do not need a wall and you and others that believe we will get a wall, are going to be very disappointed because it's just never going to happen.

So, your OP acknowledges that prior to the current Administration (2015 was under Obama) at least one major "shelter" organization has been making billions out of detaining immigrant children. That does not seem to support your position that the "bollard fencing we already have" has been doing much good.

In fact MILLIONS of illegals have been able to get past that existing "bollard fencing," including thousands of children accompanied and unaccompanied who apparently needed such "sheltering."

There were 12.1 million immigrants living in the country illegally as of January 2014, according to the most recent estimate from the Department of Homeland Security. The estimates from two independent groups are similar: The Pew Research Center estimates the number at 11.1 million in 2014, and the Center for Migration Studies says there were 11 million people in 2015 living in the U.S. illegally.

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/illegal-immigration-statistics/

As for today (2018)?

There are roughly twice as many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as commonly believed, according to a sweeping new study by MIT Sloan School of Management's Mohammad Fazel-Zarandi, a Senior Lecturer in the Operations Research and Statistics group, and his colleagues, Edward Kaplan and Jonathan Feinstein, both from Yale School of Management.

The study, which is published today in PLOS ONE, estimates that there are about 22.1 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.; the most prominent current estimate is 11.3 million. Even using parameters intentionally aimed at producing a conservative estimate, the study finds a population of 16.7 million undocumented immigrants..

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...ghly-double-previous-estimates-300716219.html

Try again? :coffeepap:

 

[Hawkeye10]

This thread reminds me about all of the corruption that exists between my HOA and the management company which decides the spending on almost all of our money.

 

[HumblePi]

So, your OP acknowledges that prior to the current Administration (2015 was under Obama) at least one major "shelter" organization has been making billions out of detaining immigrant children. That does not seem to support your position that the "bollard fencing we already have" has been doing much good.

In fact MILLIONS of illegals have been able to get past that existing "bollard fencing," including thousands of children accompanied and unaccompanied who apparently needed such "sheltering." :coffeepap:

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/illegal-immigration-statistics/

As for today (2018)?

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...ghly-double-previous-estimates-300716219.html

I don't suppose you're aware of it, but those illegals coming across the border aren't crossing at the point where there's 700 miles of border protected by steel slat bollard-style fencing. They're crossing either where there is none or there is inadequate wire fencing.Yes, that's right, it's not a completely fenced border, only 700 miles of the 2,000 miles of border are fenced.

'CBP awarded a construction contract in January to the Montana-based Barnard Construction, which has been tasked with removing the existing vehicle barrier and replacing it with the bollard wall.'

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-border-wall-construction-photos-new-mexico-2018-4#cbp-awarded-a-construction-contract-in-january-to-the-montana-based-barnard-construction-which-has-been-tasked-with-removing-the-existing-vehicle-barrier-and-replacing-it-with-the-bollard-wall-4

This is a section of border typical of the old fencing currently in place in many areas along the border

This is the bollard steel fencing that will be replacing the old inadequate fencing

 

[Captain Adverse]

I don't suppose you're aware of it, but those illegals coming across the border aren't crossing at the point where there's 700 miles of border protected by steel slat bollard-style fencing. They're crossing either where there is none or there is inadequate wire fencing.Yes, that's right, it's not a completely fenced border, only 700 miles of the 2,000 miles of border are fenced.

Wow...so your position now is that it is the areas with NO WALL where they are coming through? Go figure. :roll:

Meanwhile, what about all those stories of people simply climbing over, blowing through, or digging under those existing areas of "steel slat bollard-style fencing" you claim are currently "effective?" Isn't that the argument used by anti-wall groups, that walls are not 100% effective so why build them? Hmmm?

 

[Mycroft]

Has anyone else wondered who is providing the tent cities in the desert for the 12,800 migrant children? I have wondered about this for a while. No, it's not the U.S. government running them as some may believe. Each of these centers are being operated by private companies. These contracts are worth billions of dollars to those who operate them. Digging a bit deeper, I began to uncover some not-so-surprising stories. Like this one. The DOJ is investigating Southwest Key Programs. How much sweeter could it be for Southwest Key Programs, they get all the children they can possibly warehouse in tents and all the billions paid to them are tax-free because they're registered as 'nonprofit' agencies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/migrant-shelters-border-crossing.html

The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children

HARLINGEN, Tex. — The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is not a multimillion-dollar business.

It’s a billion-dollar one.

The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs has won at least $955 million in federal contracts since 2015 to run shelters and provide other services to immigrant children in federal custody. Its shelter for migrant boys at a former Walmart Supercenter in South Texas has been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, but Southwest Key is but one player in the lucrative, secretive world of the migrant-shelter business. About a dozen contractors operate more than 30 facilities in Texas alone, with numerous others contracted for about 100 shelters in 16 other states.
===================================================================

I have my suspicions of course, that's all they are. I can't help but wonder if all of this hostage taking of children from parents is nothing but a big scam by powerful people in government just to bleed the U.S. of every penny it can and make their buddies wealthy? Twelve thousand, eight hundred $ children $

Can't be all that secretive if the NYT can find out information about them, right?

But the fact is, SOMEONE has to do the work. I have no problem with a contractor doing it, as long as there are rules, safeguards and oversight. Per the article, that seems to be the case. These contractors can't just do anything they want.


Twelve thousand, eight hundred children have to be cared for. Seems to me we should spend the money necessary to reduce that number.

btw, I wonder how many of those children "overstayed their visa"?

 

[HumblePi]

Wow...so your position now is that it is the areas with NO WALL where they are coming through? Go figure. :roll:

Meanwhile, what about all those stories of people simply climbing over, blowing through, or digging under those existing areas of "steel slat bollard-style fencing" you claim are currently "effective?" Hmmm?

Um yes, that's exactly what my position is. No wall for you. Sad.

Incidentally, I would appreciate if you didn't hijack this thread by making it all about the stupid wall, there's already a multitude of threads that address the stupid wall.

 

[trouble13]

Has anyone else wondered who is providing the tent cities in the desert for the 12,800 migrant children? I have wondered about this for a while. No, it's not the U.S. government running them as some may believe. Each of these centers are being operated by private companies. These contracts are worth billions of dollars to those who operate them. Digging a bit deeper, I began to uncover some not-so-surprising stories. Like this one. The DOJ is investigating Southwest Key Programs. How much sweeter could it be for Southwest Key Programs, they get all the children they can possibly warehouse in tents and all the billions paid to them are tax-free because they're registered as 'nonprofit' agencies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/migrant-shelters-border-crossing.html

The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children

HARLINGEN, Tex. — The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is not a multimillion-dollar business.

It’s a billion-dollar one.

The nonprofit Southwest Key Programs has won at least $955 million in federal contracts since 2015 to run shelters and provide other services to immigrant children in federal custody. Its shelter for migrant boys at a former Walmart Supercenter in South Texas has been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, but Southwest Key is but one player in the lucrative, secretive world of the migrant-shelter business. About a dozen contractors operate more than 30 facilities in Texas alone, with numerous others contracted for about 100 shelters in 16 other states.
===================================================================

I have my suspicions of course, that's all they are. I can't help but wonder if all of this hostage taking of children from parents is nothing but a big scam by powerful people in government just to bleed the U.S. of every penny it can and make their buddies wealthy? Twelve thousand, eight hundred $ children $

Where do you get off calling it hostage taking? Dont do the crime if you cant do the time. These people are making a concious decision to violate our laws and inv0lve a minor in the c0mmission of the crime. Frankly we treat them much better than they should be treated.

If you dont approve I do have one suggestion.

Build the wall

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[HumblePi]

Where do you get off calling it hostage taking? Dont do the crime if you cant do the time. These people are making a concious decision to violate our laws and inv0lve a minor in the c0mmission of the crime. Frankly we treat them much better than they should be treated.

If you dont approve I do have one suggestion.

Build the wall

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Underage children taken forcefully away, against their consent, from their parent and kept against their will in a holding facility, tent or vacant Walmart, are by definition 'HOSTAGES'. So there's where I 'get off' calling them hostages.

Definition of hostage. 1a : a person held by one party in a conflict as a pledge pending the fulfillment of an agreement. b : a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands. 2 : one that is involuntarily controlled by an outside influence.


These parents brought them to the border, applied for asylum and their children were forcefully taken away from them in order to deter others from seeking amnesty at the border. That's the purest definition of a 'hostage' that there is. Some of these people are not the legitimate parent of that child and DNA tests must be done to establish either parenthood or guardianship. These children were taken hostage for YOUR benefit, yes yours and Trump's other minions. He wants to send you a message 'look, I'm tough, I'll be tough on their children if they don't stop coming'. That's his message for you and in the process thousands of children are being emotionally scared and traumatized for life.

You said: "These people are making a concious decision to violate our laws and inv0lve a minor in the c0mmission of the crime." Underage children, even those children that a literally infants have no decision-making authority to decide when or where they go, do they. These choices were made by many desperate people and some that are NOT desperate, they just want to get into the U.S. and THIS is where the job of the United States Homeland Security and Border Patrol comes in. These people are supposed to be processed 'in due time'. That doesn't mean in 8 months, or ever 2 months. It means with expedience.

If you run a red light or a stop sign should the police sent the traffic violation and fine to your young children?

 

[trouble13]

Underage children taken forcefully away, against their consent, from their parent and kept against their will in a holding facility, tent or vacant Walmart, are by definition 'HOSTAGES'. So there's where I 'get off' calling them hostages.

Definition of hostage. 1a : a person held by one party in a conflict as a pledge pending the fulfillment of an agreement. b : a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands. 2 : one that is involuntarily controlled by an outside influence.


These parents brought them to the border, applied for asylum and their children were forcefully taken away from them in order to deter others from seeking amnesty at the border. That's the purest definition of a 'hostage' that there is. Some of these people are not the legitimate parent of that child and DNA tests must be done to establish either parenthood or guardianship. These children were taken hostage for YOUR benefit, yes yours and Trump's other minions. He wants to send you a message 'look, I'm tough, I'll be tough on their children if they don't stop coming'. That's his message for you and in the process thousands of children are being emotionally scared and traumatized for life.

You said: "These people are making a concious decision to violate our laws and inv0lve a minor in the c0mmission of the crime." Underage children, even those children that a literally infants have no decision-making authority to decide when or where they go, do they. These choices were made by many desperate people and some that are NOT desperate, they just want to get into the U.S. and THIS is where the job of the United States Homeland Security and Border Patrol comes in. These people are supposed to be processed 'in due time'. That doesn't mean in 8 months, or ever 2 months. It means with expedience.

If you run a red light or a stop sign should the police sent the traffic violation and fine to your young children?

If you bring your child on a bank robbery and get arrested what should we do with your child?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[HumblePi]

If you bring your child on a bank robbery and get arrested what should we do with your child?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

As police ALWAYS do, they do not hold the child. They immediately seek out immediate family members or relatives in order to care for that child. They do not put that child in a detention center for months and months.

 

[trouble13]

As police ALWAYS do, they do not hold the child. They immediately seek out immediate family members or relatives in order to care for that child. They do not put that child in a detention center for months and months.

Would you disagree that in these children's cases there are some very unique circumstances that have to be taken into consideration?

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[mike2810]

As police ALWAYS do, they do not hold the child. They immediately seek out immediate family members or relatives in order to care for that child. They do not put that child in a detention center for months and months.

and if the " immediate family members or relatives " are not in the US, what does law enforcement need to do?
and if the " immediate family members or relatives" are in the US, but are not easy to find for various reasons, what options does law enforcement have?

Bottom line, some of those coming to the US illegally or seeking asylum are not self supporting. They are a drain on the American taxpayer.

 

[HumblePi]

and if the " immediate family members or relatives " are not in the US, what does law enforcement need to do?
and if the " immediate family members or relatives" are in the US, but are not easy to find for various reasons, what options does law enforcement have?

Bottom line, some of those coming to the US illegally or seeking asylum are not self supporting. They are a drain on the American taxpayer.

They contact Child Protective Services. The welfare of any child comes before anything. CPS then tries to contact family members and if the family member doesn’t have custody of the child, the family member who will be taking the children will need a background check before CPS will allow the children to be handed over to them. If Child Protective Services cannot locate any family then they will find a safe and appropriate foster home to be cared for.

Trump has made separating of families a matter of standard practice. Obama did not. It’s not that no family was ever separated at the border under the Obama administration. But former Obama administration officials specify that families were separated only in particular circumstances. For instance, if a father was carrying drugs, that went above and beyond a typical case of illegal entry. We don’t know how often that happened, but we know it was not a widespread or standard practice.

Here's the 'bottom-bottom' line. Children and their parents should never - EVER - be separated.

 

[mike2810]

They contact Child Protective Services. The welfare of any child comes before anything. CPS then tries to contact family members and if the family member doesn’t have custody of the child, the family member who will be taking the children will need a background check before CPS will allow the children to be handed over to them. If Child Protective Services cannot locate any family then they will find a safe and appropriate foster home to be cared for.

Trump has made separating of families a matter of standard practice. Obama did not. It’s not that no family was ever separated at the border under the Obama administration. But former Obama administration officials specify that families were separated only in particular circumstances. For instance, if a father was carrying drugs, that went above and beyond a typical case of illegal entry. We don’t know how often that happened, but we know it was not a widespread or standard practice.

Here's the 'bottom-bottom' line. Children and their parents should never - EVER - be separated.

Your statements regarding CPS still results in a drain on taxpayers.

Children are seperated from parents all the time in the US. Parents commit a crime and are jailed, child abuse, etc.

I can agree that not every child should be seperated from the parents when crossing into the US illegally. imo, the US does have an illegal alien problem. It is not all from crossing into the US without permission. Some overstay visas.

My point. Yes the detention centers is costing the taxpayer. CPS costs the taxpayers. Illegal immigration costs the taxpayers when they are caught. Nothing is a free ride.