How scary is this?

Halliburton has been given a $385 million contract to build immigration "detention centers":

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth up to $385 million for building temporary immigration detention centers to Kellogg Brown Root, the Halliburton subsidiary that has been criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its work in Iraq.

What the hell for?  Um, just in case there's some kind of "immigration emergency":

[the] "temporary detention facilities" [...] would be used, the story said, in the event of an "immigration emergency."

Jamie Zuieback, an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), explained such an emergency like this: "If, for example, there were some sort of upheaval in another country that would cause mass migration, that's the type of situation that the contract would address."

That sounds a tad fuzzy...

To be sure.  What kind of upheaval and "mass migration" are they talking about?  In this article, an unclear source suggests:

[O]utside events have prompted large waves of immigration in the past. Political upheaval and changes in immigration policy in nations such as Haiti, Cuba and Rwanda have caused an influx of immigrants and refugees from those countries at different times.

Oh, I feel so warm and fuzzy: KBR detention centers are just to keep political, economic, and natural disaster refugees safe, warm, and well-fed (OK, maybe not so well-fed) until they can be resettled in the Land O'Poverty.  Only one problem with this justification: after the last large influx of refugees (during the Mariel boatlift), the U.S. responded by clamping down hard on political and other refugees (and that was before 9-11).  As per this article from the American Immigration Law Foundation:

News reports indicate that if a significant number of Cubans were to seek freedom in the United States, the anticipated response from the Bush Administration, dubbed “Operation Distant Shore,” would involve “a dramatic escalation in the number of Coast Guard and other military vessels patrolling the Florida Straits – a veritable floating wall designed to interdict as many migrants as possible at sea.”

OK, feeling less warm and fuzzy now.  BTW, you might not know just how few refugees the U.S. generally targets for admission each year:

Each year, the State Department prepares a Report to Congress on proposed refugee admissions, then the U.S. President consults with Congress and establishes the proposed ceilings for refugee admissions for the fiscal year. For the 2005 fiscal year (i.e. October 1, 2004 - September 30, 2005), the total ceiling is set at 70,000 admissions and is allocated to six geographic regions: Africa (20,000 admissions), East Asia (13,000 admissions), Europe and Central Asia (9,500 admissions), Latin America/Caribbean (5,000 admissions), Near East/South Asia (2,500 admissions) and 20,000 reserve.

A mere 70K -- ludicrous. Anyway, let's get real. The chillier reason for the centers has nothing to do with sheltering and processing immigrants in times of emergency, but rather with the increasing lust for rounding up and incarcerating illegal immigrants:

Additionally, ICE is planning to increase the capacity of its detention facilities around the country, Zuieback said, particularly after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged to end the agency's unofficial "catch-and-release" policy for some illegal immigrants.

Because ICE's detention facilities are frequently full, there is nowhere to hold illegal immigrants who must have a hearing before they can be deported. This includes most immigrants from nations other than Mexico. In the past, those illegal immigrants have been issued an order to appear for their court date, and then simply released into the United States. The vast majority never show up for the hearings.

Big surprise, but honestly.  Why not just look the other way, so "illegals" can go back to working in U.S. sweatshops and fields for no benefits and a few bucks a bushel?  Hey, I want my strawberries!

I wonder what KBR's contract has to do with the recent passing (December 2005) of HR. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act?  According to Human Rights Watch:

The legislation undermines basic due process protections, human rights obligations, and principles of fundamental fairness. Instead of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, H.R. 4437 is an enforcement-only approach that fails to sufficiently protect individuals in need of protection from persecution and torture, the wrongly accused, and thwarts fair and efficient consideration of the particular circumstances of individuals’ cases. 

Of particular concern, the legislation would:

[...]

• Impose mandatory detention even when the individual is not a flight risk or threat to the community.

• Allow for the indefinite detention of non-citizens who cannot be deported.

[...]

Not only is H.R. 4437 unnecessarily punitive, but it fails to deal with a key cause of the problem: the enormous mismatch between certain United States immigration policies and the increasing demands for workers – often undocumented immigrants – to fill low-wage, service sector jobs.

Perhaps the mismatch is explained by the fact that prisons are big business.  Whatever the real reason for the centers, Tom Hennessey is right:

[A] news story about construction of government detention centers should give us all pause.

Considering what took place in Nazi Germany, as well as the shameful incarceration of Japanese-Americans in 1942, no detention camp should be built without the widest possible public scrutiny.

Bottom line: The contract cries out for greater attention. So far, the government's expressed reason for building them is insufficient and ill-defined. And even if the camps do relate to illegal immigration, their purpose could be changed overnight.

Scary indeed, given the criminal thugs in charge these days. And now for the final icing on the corporate cake:

KBR also has faced allegations that, through subcontractors, it hired numerous illegal immigrants to perform rebuilding work in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina and paid them subminimum wages.

Maybe the workers can build themselves into the centers, just like Mike Mulligan's steam shovel Mary Anne!

Halliburton has been given a $385 million contract to build immigration "detention centers":

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth up to $385 million for building temporary immigration detention centers to Kellogg Brown Root, the Halliburton subsidiary that has been criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its work in Iraq.

What the hell for?  Um, just in case there's some kind of "immigration emergency":

[the] "temporary detention facilities" [...] would be used, the story said, in the event of an "immigration emergency."

Jamie Zuieback, an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), explained such an emergency like this: "If, for example, there were some sort of upheaval in another country that would cause mass migration, that's the type of situation that the contract would address."

That sounds a tad fuzzy...

To be sure.  What kind of upheaval and "mass migration" are they talking about?  In this article, an unclear source suggests:

[O]utside events have prompted large waves of immigration in the past. Political upheaval and changes in immigration policy in nations such as Haiti, Cuba and Rwanda have caused an influx of immigrants and refugees from those countries at different times.

Oh, I feel so warm and fuzzy: KBR detention centers are just to keep political, economic, and natural disaster refugees safe, warm, and well-fed (OK, maybe not so well-fed) until they can be resettled in the Land O'Poverty.  Only one problem with this justification: after the last large influx of refugees (during the Mariel boatlift), the U.S. responded by clamping down hard on political and other refugees (and that was before 9-11).  As per this article from the American Immigration Law Foundation:

News reports indicate that if a significant number of Cubans were to seek freedom in the United States, the anticipated response from the Bush Administration, dubbed “Operation Distant Shore,” would involve “a dramatic escalation in the number of Coast Guard and other military vessels patrolling the Florida Straits – a veritable floating wall designed to interdict as many migrants as possible at sea.”

OK, feeling less warm and fuzzy now.  BTW, you might not know just how few refugees the U.S. generally targets for admission each year:

Each year, the State Department prepares a Report to Congress on proposed refugee admissions, then the U.S. President consults with Congress and establishes the proposed ceilings for refugee admissions for the fiscal year. For the 2005 fiscal year (i.e. October 1, 2004 - September 30, 2005), the total ceiling is set at 70,000 admissions and is allocated to six geographic regions: Africa (20,000 admissions), East Asia (13,000 admissions), Europe and Central Asia (9,500 admissions), Latin America/Caribbean (5,000 admissions), Near East/South Asia (2,500 admissions) and 20,000 reserve.

A mere 70K -- ludicrous. Anyway, let's get real. The chillier reason for the centers has nothing to do with sheltering and processing immigrants in times of emergency, but rather with the increasing lust for rounding up and incarcerating illegal immigrants:

Additionally, ICE is planning to increase the capacity of its detention facilities around the country, Zuieback said, particularly after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged to end the agency's unofficial "catch-and-release" policy for some illegal immigrants.

Because ICE's detention facilities are frequently full, there is nowhere to hold illegal immigrants who must have a hearing before they can be deported. This includes most immigrants from nations other than Mexico. In the past, those illegal immigrants have been issued an order to appear for their court date, and then simply released into the United States. The vast majority never show up for the hearings.

Big surprise, but honestly.  Why not just look the other way, so "illegals" can go back to working in U.S. sweatshops and fields for no benefits and a few bucks a bushel?  Hey, I want my strawberries!

I wonder what KBR's contract has to do with the recent passing (December 2005) of HR. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act?  According to Human Rights Watch:

The legislation undermines basic due process protections, human rights obligations, and principles of fundamental fairness. Instead of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, H.R. 4437 is an enforcement-only approach that fails to sufficiently protect individuals in need of protection from persecution and torture, the wrongly accused, and thwarts fair and efficient consideration of the particular circumstances of individuals’ cases. 

Of particular concern, the legislation would:

[...]

• Impose mandatory detention even when the individual is not a flight risk or threat to the community.

• Allow for the indefinite detention of non-citizens who cannot be deported.

[...]

Not only is H.R. 4437 unnecessarily punitive, but it fails to deal with a key cause of the problem: the enormous mismatch between certain United States immigration policies and the increasing demands for workers – often undocumented immigrants – to fill low-wage, service sector jobs.

Perhaps the mismatch is explained by the fact that prisons are big business.  Whatever the real reason for the centers, Tom Hennessey is right:

[A] news story about construction of government detention centers should give us all pause.

Considering what took place in Nazi Germany, as well as the shameful incarceration of Japanese-Americans in 1942, no detention camp should be built without the widest possible public scrutiny.

Bottom line: The contract cries out for greater attention. So far, the government's expressed reason for building them is insufficient and ill-defined. And even if the camps do relate to illegal immigration, their purpose could be changed overnight.

Scary indeed, given the criminal thugs in charge these days. And now for the final icing on the corporate cake:

KBR also has faced allegations that, through subcontractors, it hired numerous illegal immigrants to perform rebuilding work in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina and paid them subminimum wages.

Maybe the workers can build themselves into the centers, just like Mike Mulligan's steam shovel Mary Anne!