Did Gov. Jan Brewer choose pesos over principles?
Posted on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 12:57 AM
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Back in July Jan Brewer, the state governor, justified the adoption of the shockingly anti-immigrant bill by saying that "law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded."
But it turns out that it may have been bucks, and not beheadings, that drove the bill. At the very least NPR's report is strongly questioning the governors motives.
Through an organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), NPR reports that the private-prison industry helped shape the bill, presumably to increase their own revenue by mandating that the undocumented be incarcerated in large numbers.
That bill eventually became Arizona’s controversial new SB-1070 immigration law.
According to NPR the Corrections Corporation of America sees incarcerating large numbers of undocumented immigrants as its next big market, providing “a significant portion of our revenues,” according to company documents quoted in the article.
So jailing undocumented Mexicans isn't just a patriotic duty, it could also be really profitable, apparently. In fact it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to the private prison companies responsible for housing them.
And we're supposed to believe that consideration wasn't a factor? There are between 350,000 to 450,000 undocumented immigrants in the state, depending on whose figures you believe. Looking at them, some see desperate people trying to make a life for themselves, and other's see a rich opportunity.
Two-thirds of the Arizona immigration bills co-sponsors are either members of the ALEC group or were said to be present at the meeting when the idea for the bill was first introduced, NPR claims. 30 of the 36 co-sponsors received campaign donations from private prisons or private-prison lobbyists in the months after the bill was introduced.
If you follow the money, what is it saying?
When the bill was introduced Governor Brewer became something of a celebrity to the many anti-immigrant groups around the nation.
I wonder what they'll make of her now that NPR appears to be suggesting it may have been pesos and not principles that were really at work?
49 comments
irishottawa | Oct 30, 2010, 11:30 PM EDT
I am astounded by the ignorance and left wing bias of this reporter. What is happening to the once great country of the U.S.A.?
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Monsoonman | Oct 30, 2010, 09:53 PM EDT
My posts get pulled on Cahir O'Dohertys blog,it does seem a bit strange.
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Gaelicpiper | Oct 30, 2010, 07:01 PM EDT
The above rant is a classic example of propaganda. It is not even good propaganda. The best description of the article is --Sophomoric. Where have all the journalists gone?
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maloney | Oct 30, 2010, 02:40 PM EDT
Hey o'dowd, monsoonman had 3 posts on here that are now gone. Your deleting the good to get rid of the spam. Who else is being rejected while you attempt to fix your problem?
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maloney | Oct 29, 2010, 11:01 PM EDT
I thought you'd been bad & the Mrs. had you in the dog house monsoon.
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maloney | Oct 29, 2010, 08:48 PM EDT
npr is nothing more than Soros propaganda. Liberal gene = head arse itis. kaydog is correct but never let the truth get in the way of liberal lies. I don't care how they get deported as long as they're gone. And to all the grammar concerns, I have a dangling participle for ya.
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plasticpaddy | Oct 29, 2010, 07:49 PM EDT
Come on now seanomelbourne, she can't even piece toghether a sentence let alone a thought. As for the article any State contracting out any piece of their justice system to a private company clearly cares little about justice, punishment, or rehabilitation.The only thing they care about is the bottom line. Kaydog, the reason is they are racist. These people have more right to Arizona's land than any white person, why? because they lived on this continent first. Also as for NPR, you speak for yourself Kaydog when you spout your idiotic, uneducated tripe. Also public funding amounts to less than 5% of their budget, so clearly you have a very strong argument here. Keep up the ignorant musings and drivel, you do it well.
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seanomelbourne | Oct 29, 2010, 06:46 PM EDT
Mman now I know why your tea party followers are ignorant and ill-informed It's in the genes or as you state a lack thereof. I volunteer to splice my "liberal Gene" and donate it to you. Laura Wilson !!making ignorance fashionable
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kaydog1 | Oct 29, 2010, 05:07 PM EDT
Ah, more smoke and mirrors from the Irish Left. Illegals picked up for being Illegal are handed over to ICE and Homeland Security - NOT placed into the hands of local prisons as the article wrongly suggests. Please note that better than 70 percent of Arizonans (Hispanics included) are in favor of SB-1070, and there's a reason for that - Illegal Aliens are overwhelming local communities with crime and the cost to pay for their education and medical services - a cost Washington mandates to the State and does NOT help to fund. As for NPR, Cahir, they're largely seen as a Leftist bad joke in the USA. We all know they are funded by George Soros, and they hew strictly to a Leftist slant, in fact, they just fired Juan Williams for voicing an opinion contrary to their PC creed. No one in any anti-illegal immigration group has cared about what they had to say for a VERY long time. In fact, we're all trying now to cut out public funding for National Partisan Radio.
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jamthecat | Oct 29, 2010, 04:30 PM EDT
A stupid white politician helps pass a stupid, racist law aimed solely at Latinos and does her state untold financial damage and yet the moment anyone criticizes her stupidity (and probable avarice in doing so), the stupid right-wing internet trolls come screaming in her defense, using their stupid excuses and typically poor grammar. Why would ANYone take their stupidity seriously?
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Ajreaper | Oct 29, 2010, 02:29 PM EDT
Interesting article- shockingly stupid on the part of the govenor and the GOP if it's true. AZ has massive budget issues and could not in any way shape or form pay anyone to jail illegal immigrants. Not certain how those prisons figured they make bank on this deal. The Perfessor has it exactly right little more then a stunt, a political move to take a swipe at the feds who are doing little to nothing and to make conservatives happy. And for those of you who think illegals are bleeding us dry here in AZ that's silly- asking for services of any kind increases the risk you'll be found out so a great many of these folks avoid seeking out social services of any kind. When you are under the radar you don't launch flares.
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jflanagan | Oct 29, 2010, 01:56 PM EDT
Hollabackgurl: Your naivete is cute. The Financial Reform bill will impose near impossible compliance issues on small Community Banks and member owned Credit Unions while B of A, Chase, etc. will get around everything with their armies of lawyers and accountants. Over a year ago, the large banks started reissuing credit cards to consumers with a "Professional" or "Business" designation. That way they are not included in the limits on fees and interest rates. If the regulators do as good a job as they did enforcing previous regulations, we will see the same problems over and over. In Hew Jersey, the congressman claiming the loudest to stop the Insurance Companies from making outrageous profits on Health Care received just under twice as much in Health Care Insurance campaign contributions as the next highest Congressman. Do you really think they rewarded this guy for promising to hurt them, if he really meant it? This is not a right wing or left wing or middle of the road thing. It is about government restricted competition, driving business and profits to the chosen friends and contributors.
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jdi2269 | Oct 29, 2010, 01:01 PM EDT
TOO BAD CAHIR NEVER GOT AN EDUCATION! SIPPING GUINNESS DESN'T COUNT!
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mpkeaveny | Oct 29, 2010, 12:53 PM EDT
NPR has it's own problems to worry about.
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