The financial firm that cornered the market on jails

Arun Gupta, The Nation, August 1, 2016

Excerpt:

Numi’s highest profits may come from jailed migrants. As Paul Wright, executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center, points out, “Large numbers of [jailed] people are deported to countries where they aren’t able to use the inmate debit cards.” The balance on these uncashed cards would be absorbed by Numi and the issuing bank through maintenance fees. Continue reading The Nation: “The financial firm that cornered the market on jails” →

Booted across the border with bogus checks

Marlen Garcia, Chicago Sun-Times, March 12, 2015

The first step for immigrants deported from the U.S. to Reynosa, Mexico, is to check in with Mexican authorities at the Tamaulipeco Institute for Migrants at the end of their walk on the International Bridge. Continue reading Chicago Sun-Times: “Booted across the border with bogus checks” →

The institutional cruelty of migrant shakedowns

John Washington, Al Jazeera, January 14, 2015

On Jan. 31, the U.S. Border Patrol detained a migrant named Alejandro in the Arizona desert and stripped him of his belongings: $226.24 in cash, his cellphone, his ID and his only change of clothes. After 60 days in jail, he was put on a bus headed across the border. It was 3 a.m. Continue reading Al Jazeera: “The institutional cruelty of migrant shakedowns” →

Editorial: A disturbing trend in border patrol

Arizona Republic, December 15, 2014

Honoring the inherent rights of individuals is part of our national DNA. It is what we are all about.

But a report from a human-rights group offers more evidence that this deep commitment runs a bit shallow near the US–Mexico border. Continue reading Arizona Republic, editorial →

Report: US often keeping deportees’ money, IDs

USA Today, Bob Ortega, December 10, 2014

PHOENIX — US authorities often needlessly endanger deportees by sending them back across the border into Mexico without returning their money, IDs, cell phones, medicine and other belongings, a human-rights groups charges in a report released Wednesday. Continue reading USA Today: “Report: US often keeping deportees’ money, IDs” →

Some deportees return to Mexico but their stuff stays in the US

NPR, All Things Considered, Ted Robbins, December 10, 2014

Derek Lucas Reyes, 20, went from being undocumented in the US to undocumented in his native Mexico. Continue reading NPR: “Some deportees return to Mexico but their stuff stays in the US” →

For deportees, a struggle to get cash from checks

Nogales International, Curt Prendergast, August 19, 2014

Javier Gutierrez wasn’t smiling as he sat down at a table inside the Kino Border Initiative’s dining hall on Wednesday morning. Continue reading Nogales International: “For deportees, a struggle to get cash from checks” →

The muckraker and the border patrol

The Good Fight with Ben Winkler, April 10, 2014

Everyone working at the border crossing knew that it was happening: brutal violence and abuses by border patrol agents. Sometimes even lethally. But the US Customs and Border Protection wasn’t talking, and politicians seemed more concerned with increasing its size and military power than in holding it accountable.
Continue reading The Good Fight with Ben Winkler: “The muckraker and the border patrol” →