Review: We Built The Wall by Eileen Truax

Eileen Truax's WE BUILT THE WALL is a timely, historical perspective on how the US has handled the issue of immigration among those fleeing Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico.

She does a good job of offering the details that show the US has been focused on keeping vulnerable citizens from these countries out of ours, long before plans to build a "big, beautiful wall," were announced.

For instance, Truax points out that:

. in 2016 there were over 500,000 asylum cases pending, with a total of 277 immigration judges to hear them in the entire US;

. the Corrections Corporation of America (now called CoreCivic) along with GEO Industries, operates most of the prisons and detention centers that are subcontracted in the US. CoreCivic gets about $1.7 billion annually for its services;

. The US government spends over $2 billion each year detaining undocumented immigrants;

. for each day a person is held in detention the company operating the prison receives $164, and up to $298 a day for families held in family detention centers;

. In 2010, well before the current situation at the border we share with Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security held 363,000 immigrants in detention centers. Sixty percent of these individuals were held in detention centers operated by CoreCivic and GEO Group.

. CoreCivic has 15,000 employees. In 2013, the company reported a profit of more than $700 million. $300 million coming from government contracts;

Eileen Truax/InquireFirst

. The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2017 requires ICE to hold a minimum number of detainees each year at each detention center to guarantee CoreCivic and GEO Industries sufficient profit;

. The National Immigrant Justice Center has recommended that ICE use monitoring bracelets ($17 a day) versus detention ($164 a day), but thus far, ICE has ignored this recommendation.
. since 2017 an additional 15,000 ICE agents have been hired, but only 50 additional immigration judges.

After offering several stories of individuals and families who tried to come into the US as undocumented immigrants, seeking asylum, Truax states: "Citizens of countries including El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico cannot enter the visa lottery. If they are not sponsored by an employer, or a family member does not petition for them, these people have no other way to come to the United States legally."

It's a complex story that makes a sad statement. Truax's book makes the point that the US government doesn't seem to care about individuals seeking asylum, and is making it increasingly difficult for them to do so. Meanwhile, US taxpayers are funding an unkind, and in some cases, a lethal system that continues to detain human beings who are seeking asylum.