I made the following announcement in the NEWSJUNKIEPOST, in an article concerning the blatant conflict of interest in the undertakings of elected and appointed officials charged with the public's trust.
This is public notice of an investigation into the political and fiscal relationship between the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, and their agents), the Etowah County Detention Center (ECDC) and staff (especially Sheriff Todd Entrekin), and Representative Robert Aderholt of the US Congress (Alabama's 4th District).
It appears obvious that Aderholt used his official influence to ensure continued operation of inhumane living conditions for immigrants with federally adjudicated cases in the custody of Etowah County, AL.
To the extent of my current knowledge, none of the actions named is considered illegal under current laws and regulations. I consider it an easy bet that with digging more underhanded will be revealed. It could all be perfectly legal, too.
So for the unconcerned, even defensive, among the population who are scared and eager for villains (or are bigots, some are bigots), I thought I should provide some perspective.
The Department of Homeland Security's system of immigration detention, operated by The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is expected to cost taxpayers over $2 billion in FY 2012. This number represents a $254 million increase fromFY 2010. This more than $2 billion pot of money provides ICE with funding to maintain its current detention capacity of 33,400 people in over 250 facilities on any given night, including operational expenses, at an average of $5.5 million per day.
(Two figures are used in calculating the average daily cost of immigration detention per person: $122 per bed is the number ICE commonly provides for detention costs, but $166 per bed includes ICE âÂÂs operational expenses. So $2,023,827,000 FY 2012 Presidential annual budget request / 365 days in a year=$5.5 million per day
$5.5 million per day / 33,400 immigrant detainees=$166 daily cost to tax payers
per immigrant detainee)
$122 dollars a day per annual budget request, yet $30.00 dollars is the amount of record to be paid for each immigrant it holds each day to Etowah County by the Department.
http://www.ice.gov/...
The FY 2012 Budget increases U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody Operations funding by $157.7 million to support 33,400 detention beds and remove more than 200,000 criminal aliens in FY 2012, and yet the Department claims to be focusing targeting cases for and expediting processing of deportation. The funding is being used to justify within subcommittee program costs like the $187 million dollar price tag for Secure Communities - which is employed as dragnet to gather more immigrants for incarceration.
http://blog.dhs.gov/...
Your taxes are set and collected according to what is required to fund the wealth and privilege of commercial agents and their political bedfellows, limited only by legislators and sponsors notion of how closely you will look at the numbers.
Join Occupy Birmingham and others in speaking up for these exploited people. Raise your voice.
Slaves no more.