AJE Fault Lines investigates the business of immigrant detention in the US.

Immigration is a key issue in the US presidential election, with the Republican candidates trying to demonstrate their tough stance on undocumented immigrants. But under the Obama administration, the detention and deportation of immigrants has reached an all-time high. Every day, the US government detains more than 33,000 non-citizens at the cost of $5.5mn a day. That is a lot of money for the powerful private prison industry, which spends millions of dollars on lobbying and now operates nearly half of the country’s immigration detention centres. Fault Lines travels to Texas and Florida to investigate the business of immigrant detention in the US and to find out how a handful of companies have managed to shape US immigration laws.

By Amy Chung and Jordan Press, Postmedia News, 15 Sep. 2011

OTTAWA — The author of a report criticizing Canada’s anticipated trade and security agreement with the United States says Canada is “selling” its sovereignty with no guarantee of a reduction of red tape at the border for Canadian business. On Wednesday, Gar Pardy spoke about his report for the Rideau Institute called Shared Vision or Myopia: The Politics of Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, offering a scathing rebuke of the proposed cross-border agreement with the U.S.

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by Ted Robbins, NPR, August 7, 2011

Listen to the Story: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/07/138959162/illegal-border-crossings-fewer-but-just-as-deadly

Over the last decade, the U.S. government has spent billions beefing up surveillance, manpower and fencing along the border with Mexico. Fewer people are attempting to cross, but hundreds of migrants still die every year, and not a day goes by without a rescue by border patrol agents. Officials and humanitarian groups are ramping up efforts to find illegal crossers before the worst happens, and they’re hoping new deterrents convince people not to cross in the first place.

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Vancouver Sun, Chad Skeleton Aug 4 2011

After the MV Sun Sea arrived on B.C.’s coast last summer carrying 492 migrants, we filed a number of Access to Information requests to the Canada Border Services Agency for information on the ship and how the migrants were handled. The first batch of records in response to those requests have started to trickle in. So far, they don’t contain anything particularly shocking. However, there was one memo that was kind of interesting. It’s been well-established since the Sun Sea arrived that the federal government has pushed hard to keep migrants in detention until their refugee hearings occur. This memo gives some indication of just how seriously the government is about keeping the migrants in detention:

CBSA Grounds for Detention

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By Amanda Crawford – Aug 1, 2011 9:01 PM PT, Bloomberg

Arizona, whose immigration law sparked a lawsuit by the Obama administration and national boycotts, aims to collect tens of millions of dollars in private donations to build a border fence with inmate labor. The plan, created by lawmakers and signed into law by Republican Governor Jan Brewer in April, would turn donations over to a group of Republican legislators, political appointees and four county sheriffs who have criticized U.S. efforts to combat illegal immigration. They say the fence is needed to stop an “invasion” that may include violent criminals and Middle Eastern terrorists disguised as Mexicans.

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Aaron Lynett/National Post Jul 24, 2011 – 12:48 PM ET | Last Updated: Aug 5, 2011 6:55 PM ET

When asked by authorities to declare his citizenship at the Canada-U.S. border in Ontario, Leroy Hill will say, “North American Indian.” When pressed and asked where he resides, the sub-chief of the Iroquois Confederacy will point across the Niagara River and say, “I live on that side of your line,” and then submit his Iroquois passport. Neither the words “Canadian” nor “American” will cross his lips. Never have, he said. Never will. “We’ve never relinquished our sovereignty, we’ve been our own nation for centuries,” said Mr. Hill, of the Six Nations of Grand River, Canada’s largest band of 23,000, with more than half living on a reserve near Brantford, Ont. “We were raised that we’re not Canadian and we’re not American…. I would never carry a Canadian passport.”

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By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press, May 26 2011

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE—Canada and the United States will have a plan in place by this summer on how to achieve the long-awaited perimeter security deal, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday. Harper met U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the plan on the sidelines of broader G8 discussions this week in the seaside resort of Deauville, France.

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Ted Hesson, Huffington Post, May 24 2011

Watch the video here

From May 13-16, I accompanied a delegation from Long Island to Tucson, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico, where we learned firsthand about the ongoing humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the forces that drive people to undertake the journey north. The reality is stunning in sheer magnitude: Since 1994, there have been more than 6,000 confirmed deaths on the border.

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By Neil Macdonald, CBC News, May 18, 2011 5:07 AM ET

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s principal intelligence agency, routinely transmits to U.S. authorities the names and personal details of Canadian citizens who are suspected of, but not charged with, what the agency refers to as “terrorist-related activity.” The criteria used to turn over the names are secret, as is the process itself. But a new cache of WikiLeaks documents pertaining to Canada lays bare the practice. It contains not only frank assessments by U.S. officials of Canadian co-operation, but the names of 27 Canadian citizens turned over by their own government as possible threats, along with 14 other names of foreign nationals living in Canada.

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Global Research, May 18, 2011 by Dana Gabriel

It was surprising that bilateral relations with the U.S. did not play a more prominent role during the recent Canadian election considering that both countries are pursuing a trade and security agreement. In fact, the issue did not really surface until the dying days of the campaign. After winning a much coveted majority government, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are moving ahead quickly with perimeter security and regulatory harmonization negotiations. NAFTA and the defunct Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) both addressed issues such as regulatory cooperation. The goal of creating a single unified business-friendly regulatory regime for North America now continues on different fronts.

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