Democratic lawmakers are harshly criticizing the Trump administration’s attempt to defy the intent of a new state law banning privately run prisons and detention centers.

On Oct. 11, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 32, liberal activists rejoiced. Private prisons are considered far more likely to be inhumane and generally use non-union workers. Private detention centers holding unauthorized immigrants are seen as a symbol of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that has become a target for the left since President Donald Trump’s election.

But while the law takes effect Jan. 1, it allows existing contracts to be honored. Five days after Newsom’s signing of AB32, ICE put out a solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities website for contractors to run detention centers in the general areas of Northern California, Los Angeles and San Diego that had a total of 5,000 beds.

A month later, California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris and 19 fellow Democrats in the Golden State’s House of Representatives delegation are crying foul. They say ICE is flouting normal procedures in an attempt to ensure three existing facilities keep operating.

“Given the timing and terms of this solicitation – particularly in light of ICE’s history of suspect contract activities and insufficient oversight – we are understandably concerned that the solicitation is intended to favor incumbent contractors,” the 21 Democrats wrote in a letter to several federal agencies. “If so, these efforts would be in direct contradiction with the spirit of full and open competition required by federal procurement law.”

The solicitation asked for interested parties to respond within two weeks instead of the usual 30 days. It also specified that bidders had to have “turnkey ready” facilities with specific ranges of available beds. The contracts are for five years, with the option for two five-year extensions.

Democrats say bidding process is rigged

Democrats said this ensured that the only applicants would be the three companies that are already running federal immigration detention centers in California: GEO Group, which has centers in Adelanto in the Inland Empire and Bakersfield; CoreCivic, which runs a center in San Diego; and the Management and Training Corp., which has one in Calexico in Imperial County, east of San Diego.

ICE signed a $62 million contract with GEO for the Adelanto facility in March in which GEO was the only bidder. Democrats didn’t object to the contract at the time but now say it also was awarded in a way that violated the spirit of federal procurement laws by essentially ensuring only one company had a chance to win.

But an ICE official told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that the agency “remains compliant with federal contract and acquisitions regulations, as we advertise opportunity notices and subsequently implement the decision process.”

AB32’s author – Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland – blasted ICE in comments to the Desert Sun, saying the agency was attempting to “circumvent the will of the people of California.”

ICE’s parent agency – the Department of Homeland Security – has a history of claiming more flexibility under federal rules than its critics say it has. The same goes for the Trump administration, most notably in its use of $6.1 billion in defense funding to build sections of a border wall without congressional authorization.

In their letter to DHS and other agencies, the California Democratic lawmakers asked for information on how ICE crafted its solicitation for detention center bids.

Their chances of getting a quick response are unclear. ICE has long faced criticism over its handling of public record requests, which it is supposed to respond to in 20 days or less. The agency was sued earlier this month by the Project on Government Oversight for allegedly withholding information over how it used facial recognition and other technology in surveillance and data collection programs.

By Chriss Street

President Barack Obama’s Executive Order to suspend the deportations of 800,000 illegal aliens for two years will act as a magnet to motivate millions of people from around the world to come to the United States and claim they have been quietly living here with relatives for the last five years.

The legal term for the president’s directive is “deferred action,” which has the effect of a two-year blanket suspension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations for these “unlawful” aliens. This will allow “lawful permanent residents” to work, go to school, collect welfare benefits and join the direct pathway to citizenship.  Although the Form I-551 Permanent Resident green card has not always been colored green, President Obama just made a gift of billions of green dollars to buy the loyalty of tens of millions of future voters and their extended families.

Aliens who desired the opportunity to come to the United States and become lawful permanent residents have been required to qualify under a preference system each year for a finite number of visas set by Congress.  Preference was given first to direct family members, then specialty employment skills,and then political refugees.  In 2010, there were a total of 480,000 green cards issued.  Family-based green cards were issued to 226,000 relatives of citizens and permanent residents, 150,000 to specialized workers and another 100,000 to refugees and political asylum seekers.  By law, no nation’s citizens were allowed to receive more than 25,000 green cards.

Dream Act

The Executive Order implements most of the Dream Act legislation that pro-immigrant congressional representatives have tried and failed to pass for a decade.  President Obama dishonestly claimed his Executive Order was focused on giving permanent residence status to children when he said:

“These are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag. They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents — sometimes even as infants — and often have no idea that they’re undocumented until they apply for a job or a driver’s license, or a college scholarship.”

But research by the Center for Immigrant Studies determined that, of the 1,998,000 individuals expected to be covered by the Dream Act, 1,139,000 (57 percent) would have been adults and only 859,000 (43 percent) would have been minors.

In the past, citizens and permanent residents who applied for direct family member visas for their relatives to come to the U.S. legally were required to provide financial sponsorship by signing a Form I-864 Affidavit of Support.  This contractual agreement made the sponsors personally liable to pay back the government if their sponsored relative became a “public charge” and collected public assistance benefits based on need.  Millions of lawful permanent residents undoubtedly now will reapply for green cards on deferred status to get financial releases for their sponsors.

Mass immigration

There are approximately 18.5 million “lawful permanent residents” in the United States, and 15 million unlawful permanent residents.  No one knows how many people around the world would like to immigrate to the United States.  But each year an average of 15 million people apply for the United States “green card diversity lottery” to compete for 50,000 visas, with the odds of winning at 300 to 1.

Mexicans are not eligible to participate in the lottery because more than 25,000 Mexicans enter the United States each year.  But if Mexicans, who represent 30.1 percent of all current U.S. immigrants, had been allowed to apply for the lottery, the number of lottery participating would have risen to at least 21.5 million and the odds of winning would have jumped to 428 to 1.

Given that there will be no way to prove if a person has been quietly living in the United States for 5 years, or just arrived, I estimate at least 6 million people will eventually apply to become “lawful permanent residents” as a result of the Executive Order.  The flood of new applications will generate billions of dollars of business for key Obama supporters.  For each application, an immigration lawyer will collect $4,000 in fees and a local newspaper will pocket $,1000 to publish the required “legal notices”.

Last year, deportations of U.S. illegal immigrants reached an all-time record high of 400,000.  But President Obama described his suspension of deportations in a speech from the White House’s Rose Garden as: “It’s the right thing to do, period.”

At a time when there are 20 million unemployed Americans, the president’s Executive Order will act as a magnet to attract millions of aliens to take American jobs, burden our schools and suck up social welfare benefits.