Kadner: Detention center unites liberals and conservatives

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Updated: February 16, 2012 8:22AM

There’s one thing you can be sure of in this great country of ours: If there’s a problem, someone will find a way to make money off of it.

As I’ve reported in recent columns, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has a plan to build a detention center for illegal immigrants in Crete.

Although all the details haven’t been finalized, the center could cost as much as $60 million and house about 750 detainees. In addition to the cost of building it, of course, there would have to be guards, janitors, cooks and other personnel to maintain it.

And because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would authorize Crete to hire CCA to run the center, the suburb would also stand to make a profit on the amount the U.S. government pays to detain each illegal immigrant.

So the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants has turned into a business enterprise.

About half of all illegal immigrants detained in America (about 400,000 a year) are housed in facilities run by private corporations. The cost to detain and deport immigrants, according to testimony before a congressional panel, is roughly $2.6 billion a year.

Some would argue that’s just a fraction of the cost of what illegal immigrants cost the United States in federal dollars for education, medical care and social programs.

Many of the Crete residents I have talked with in the last week aren’t concerned about the costs of illegal immigration or the political controversy surrounding immigration policy.

They simply don’t like the idea of a detention center being built in their back yard. And they feel that village leaders have been secretive about plans for building it.

Mayor Michael Einhorn told me he has received few complaints, and several of the people who have talked to him came away satisfied after he explained the plan.

As for claims by the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants and others that 22 detainees have died at facilities owned or operated by CCA, Einhorn said such incidents are “anomalies.”

“It’s like a car manufacturer that makes a car that someone dies in because of a mechanical problem,” Einhorn said, “and someone says the car manufacturer makes cars that kill people. These are anomalies that are not indicative of what the company does.”

Einhorn said some of the people leading the effort to oppose the Crete center are philosophically opposed to detaining and deporting illegal immigrants.

Personally, I have a real concern about turning over a government responsibility, like running a prison or detention center, to a private enterprise that has a profit motive.

I understand there are government officials on-site who are supposed to make sure that regulations are followed. But government regulators were also supposed to watch Wall Street firms as they undermined the economy of this nation.

There’s a long history of government officials being co-opted by private companies when they work closely together.

Einhorn, CCA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement all say that plans for the detention center have not been finalized. Einhorn said that when the federal government agrees to move forward with the facility, he will hold public hearings for local residents.

But given the level of anxiety among village residents and the unfounded rumors that even Einhorn acknowledges are circulating, I think the mayor should move forward with those hearings now. Local residents deserve to have input into a plan of this nature before it is finalized.

“When we do have hearings, I will insist that decorum be followed,” Einhorn said.

Fair enough. But if he’s convinced that he’s doing the right thing, he should be willing to explain his reasoning to the people who elected him.

From what I understand, this plan has moved far beyond the discussion stage.

Crete submitted a proposal to the federal government and has selected CCA as the company to run the detention center. And CCA has picked out a site for the center.

One thing I do know is that wild-eyed liberals and hard-core conservatives in Crete are finding common ground in their opposition to the detention center.

Einhorn has accomplished what no president of this country could.

What’s really interesting about all of this is how easy it is to have an opinion on illegal immigration until the problem sits in your back yard.