Private Prison Industry is Catalyst for AZ Immigration Law

As heated debates over SB 1070 - Arizona's new immigration law - continue to rage, few are concerned over who drafted the controversial legislation. That could change, however, with the recent publication of a story on NPR's Morning Edition, exposing the forces at work behind SB 1070.

During the first few months of the law's litigious aftermath, NPR poured over corporate and campaign finance records. The records revealed that the private prison industry not only promoted Arizona's law, but actually helped draft it based on a business model designed to imprison undocumented immigrants.

SB 1070 took shape last December at the meeting of a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) - a membership organization of state legislators and high powered corporations including, ExxonMobil, the National Rifle Associate, and Corrections Corporation of America - the largest private prison company in the country. NPR reports that Corrections Corporation of America identifies immigrant detention as its next target market. With this goal in mind, ALEC drafted a bill at its December meeting, which later became - almost word for word - SB 1070.

Among others, the Geo Group, a private company that contracts with the government to manage the immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado, provided donations to the bill's co-sponsors.

Read NPR's startling report in its entirety here.

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