Private Enterprise bd AlEc

ppl's action doc

DACA

According to a recent study, providing a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, TPS-eligible individuals,

and undocumented essential workers could boost U.S. gross domestic product by a cumulative $1.5 trillion

over 10 years and create over 400,000 new jobs.177 The study finds that this would increase wages for all

workers, not just the wages of undocumented workers, by an average of $600 a year.

Corporate Pushback

Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention system is overwhelmingly outsourced to

for-profit prison companies.178 The two largest private prison companies (CoreCivic and GEO Group) made

a combined $1.3 billion in 2019.179 GEO Group, in particular, has been a multimillion-dollar beneficiary of

harsh anti-immigration policies for years. They have aggressively lobbied to secure contracts and influence

the nation's immigration policy.180 GEO Group spent $1,390,000 on lobbying in 2020.181 CoreCivic spent

$1,750,000.182 CoreCivic received $225 million in funding from ICE to manage immigrant detention facilities

in 2018.183

But it’s not just private prisons lobbying against

immigration reform. Many of the largest corporations in the U.S. play a role as well. Altria Group/

Philip Morris, Koch Industries/Flint Hills, State

Farm and UPS—just to name a few—all sit on

the American Legislative Exchange Council’s

private enterprise board, which has a history of

supporting anti-immigrant legislation.184...