Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0 is here. This unconstitutional order will put vulnerable, desperate people in further danger and stoke the fires of prejudice across the country. There are already too many people harmed by Trump’s xenophobic policies -- but who are the winners?
One answer: without a doubt America’s for-profit prison industrial complex.
Two of the biggest private prison corporations in the world are celebrating Trump’s new immigration plans, which will mean more migrants thrown in prison and those detained are less likely to be released. These multi-billion dollar corporations are bragging to investors that they stand to reap huge profits with Trump in the White House.
Tell Vanguard Group to divest from for-profit prisons eager to make money off of desperate migrants.
Migrants and refugees from across Central and South America are fleeing violence, war and poverty risking the lives of their families to make the trip which can take more than a month. These are the people that private prison corporation execs see as performance bonuses. They were so pleased with Trump’s racist and xenophobic campaign promises they donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his election campaign and inauguration.
Vanguard Group, one of the country’s foremost 401(k) providers, is also one of the country’s biggest investors in private prisons. Profiting off of the mass incarceration of Americans is already a travesty -- but padding your stock portfolio off of this human misery is beyond the pale.
At SumOfUs, we’ve been fighting the for-profit prison industrial complex for years. Over 50,000 of us stopped the predatory for-profit prison phone companies that charged grieving family members over 1$ a minute to speak with their incarcerated loved one. Hundreds of thousands of us have stood up against the Australian government and their infamous refugee detention centers on South Pacific islands.
No more profiting off human misery. Join us and tell Vanguard to divest from for-profit prisons now.
More information
Vice. 17 May 2013.
The Intercept. 22 February 2017.