IL-GOV: Rauner profits off ICE detention center contracts

CHICAGO — Gov. Bruce Rauner this year reported a profit from a private equity fund that owns a health care group servicing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, including facilities that hold immigrant families with children.

In his most recent statement of economic interests, the multi-millionaire Illinois Republican governor disclosed earnings from a fund that owns Correct Care Solutions, a for-profit health care provider that has millions of dollars in government contracts with jails and prisons across the country, including immigrant detention centers.

The governor said he relinquished investment decisions to a third party and has no direct ties to Correct Care Solutions, a group whose work extends to places like Karnes County Residential Center in Texas, one of just four immigrant family detention centers in the country contracted for profit.

Still, Rauner’s disclosures indicate that he’s earning income from a private equity fund that has an ownership stake in the group, which reports annual revenue of $1 billion.

The financial connection between a sitting governor and for-profit ICE detention contractors is one that immigration rights groups insist is a clear conflict of interest. They also point to Correct Care Solutions’ track record involving dozens of lawsuits alleging wide-ranging negligence.

The debate comes at a time when states are wrestling with how to navigate volatile changes to an immigration system under President Donald Trump. And it takes place as for-profit correctional contractors have seen their earnings soar under the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policies, including one that created a public firestorm over forced family separations.



https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/illinois-governor-detention-centers-702293