Government-Industry relations so tightly woven, officials fail to distinguish

Todd Miller’s MORE THAN A WALL: Corporate Profiteering and the Militarization of US Borders
(Excerpt with minor editing and textual additions)

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hallenge

Human beings do not rise to great challenges such as those of a “socioeconomic and ecological” nature by increasing and accelerating threats of violence. The increasing militarization of borders — worsening of human problems, creating more problems, driving crises set in motion with prior domestic and international policies — constitutes such a failure of the United States to meet a great challenge.

The constant push for more border walls, more technologies, more incarceration, more criminalization is in a holding pattern (an impenetrable, unthinkingly accepted status quo); stuck in a corporate dynamic with a (narrowly defined) growth doctrine. 

It is time to expose the contractors, lobbyists, campaign contributions; the influence on policy-makers; and, ultimately, the profits wielded by the border industrial complex.

The ‘business as usual’ border regime is a recipe to make millions or even billions experience the most acute suffering inflicted on humankind.

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orruption crosses Isle, and Ideologies

Donald John Trump staked his presidency on a wall.

In 2017, when his administration took office and the president issued an executive action proclaiming the building of a wall (candy man showman that he is “going to build a mountain”), the stock market said “All Right!

However, the notion of wall is far more than physical barriers. Physical barriers are but simplistic optics for a far more expansive (hostile, aggression prone, sinister) US border control — “an extensive technological border-control infrastructure that penetrates deep into the United States interior and into the border regions of Mexico, stretching into Central America, the Caribbean, and beyond.”

The Government of the United States, since 1997, “has been steadily expanding the use of surveillance and monitoring technologies such as cameras, aircraft, motion sensors, drones, video surveillance and biometrics at the US–Mexico border.”

U.S. President Donald Trump merely “ratcheted up — and ultimately consolidated what has been ‘a long-standing US approach to border control.’”

In the past 15 years, border budgets “have more than doubled.”

Between 1980 and 2019, they “increased by more than 6,000 percent.

From the mid-1980s, US budgets for border and immigration control increased enormously; and have accelerated ever since.

Budgets rose from $350 million in 1980 (then run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)) to $1.2 billion in 1990.

2003: $9.1 billion

2018: $23.7 billion (under Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)).

With border and immigration control also grew border patrol

In 1999: 4,000 agents

2019: 21,000 agents

 

Under CBP (parent of border patrol) agency, the largest federal law-enforcement agency in the United, which includes an Office of Air and Marine Operations, investigative units, Office of Field Operations, the number of agents in 2019 has reached 60,000

Between 2017 and 2019, CBP budgetary spending on contractors (new and existing) leaped more than $2 billion; ICE hiked nearly $2 billion.

“The government–industry relation is so tight and so blurred that some government officials no longer see any distinction.”

Border Industry 2020 elections

Biden tops his opponent’s take from Border Industry

Biden $5 million: 55 percent

Trump $2 million 44 percent

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ycle of what might be called Payola (recap)

“The main beneficiaries of border contracts are the same companies making the most campaign contributions and doing the most lobbying and meeting most often with government officials; and cycling in and out of government as “advisors and staff in strategic positions of influence.”

These influencers “shape border-militarization policies from which they profit.”

Center for Responsive Politics opensecrets.org database (source)

The border-security corporate giants are also the biggest campaign contributors to members of the House Appropriations Committee, the congressional body that regulates expenditures of the federal government, or earmarks the money for potential contracts.

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overing all the sectors

Winners of government’s military contracts were simultaneously “lobbying on military issues” and receiving “substantial contracts from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).”

2006 to 2018: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing contributed a total of $27.6 million to members of the committee.

115th Congress (2017–2018): Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin topped the contributor list $866,194 and $691,401, respectively to members of the Appropriations Committee

Raytheon, Boeing, Deloitte, and General Dynamics came in with donations exceeding $500,000.

2017 to 2018 Top seven contributors — all CBP contractors — to the House Appropriations Committee members:  Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell International, General Dynamics, Deloitte LLP, Boeing, and Raytheon.

Border-security corporations to other committee members

2006 – 2018 period: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing contributed a total of $6.5 million to members of the strategic House Homeland Security Committee, which handles legislation on border and immigration control.

2017–2018, 115th Congress:

• Northrop Grumman donated $293,324 
• General Dynamics $150,000 and 
• Lockheed Martin $224,614
  

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alling tune: Money paid

Politicians on these committees, regardless to their party affiliation, “frequently align with the interests of their corporate donors (i.e., their benefactors, paymasters).

Over the past 17 years, border-security corporations’ lobbying around “homeland security” – of which border militarization is a significant part – has increased significantly.

2002 to 2019 reported lobbying visits related to homeland security: nearly 20,000.

2003 Northrop Grumman topped the lobbyist list: five lobbying “visits” where it was one of 385 “clients” with 637 reported visits.

“Clients” is a term referring to “either the companies, such as Northrop Grumman; or a separate firm that supplies a representative to one of those companies.

 

“Visits” is a term referring to the number of times a client visits a member of Congress or a policy maker to advocate or push for some sort of legislation or policy or fiscal budgetary allocation.

2006: “clients” and “visits” more than doubled:
Lockheed Martin, Accenture, Boeing, Raytheon, Unisys led:
724 clients with 1,428 reported visits

2018: 677 clients with 2,841 visits listed (among top CBP / ICE contractors):
Geo Group
L3 Technologies
Accenture
Leidos
Boeing
CoreCivic
Facebook, Microsoft, and Visa


Picture
2018 top CBP contractors / Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 3355).

The largest border and immigration budget in US history exceeded $23 billion (the sum total for CBP and ICE), signed Marcy 23, 2019 by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lobbyists supporting H.R. 3355
General Dynamics’ reps 44 times
Northrop Grumman 19 times
Lockheed Martin 41 times
Raytheon 28 times
Plus related lobbyists and
Border-security giants, e.g.,
L3 Technologies
IBM
Palantir.

2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill hiked all related budgets
DHS $55.6 billion, 13 percent increase
CBP $16.357 billion, 15 percent increase
ICE $7.452 billion (incl $ for “40,520 (increased from FY 2017’s 1,196) detention beds per day)

2017 lobbying for federal budget and appropriations
CoreCivic Inc. $840,000 (reported via four firms)
Geo Group $2 million (reported approx via six lobbying organizations)

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ORE THAN A WALL: Corporate Profiteering and the Militarization of US Borders author Todd Miller sends a message to concerned citizens as concerned about the Military Industrial Complex as the Border Industrial Complex.

Establishing more humane United States policies on migration will require more than replacing one president or one administration or one congress or one political party with another.

“Border-security giants exercise strong influence over politicians and personnel in “strategic positions” of the Executive and Legislative branches of Government and in “key media positions,” whether they claim affiliation with the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, or something else.

“The militarization of US borderlands has a long history entrenched by corporations.” They thrive on violence, militarization, and detention. “Revenues and profits of these extremely powerful (border- industrial complex) business interests depend on an ever-expanding market for border control and militarization.”

“Any strategy to change the direction of US policy on migration will require confronting the border–industrial complex, and removing its influence over politics and policy.”

As long as private interests (whether corporate, government, or NGO, not-for-profit, or nonprofit) taking profits from human suffering remain embedded in positions of power within government and society — the enormous challenge to fashion new approaches giving top priority to human life and dignity will be impossible to meet.

 

Source

Miller, Todd More Than a Wall: Corporate Profiteering and the Militarization of US Borders

This report looks at the role of the world’s largest arms (as well as a number of other security and IT) firms in shaping and profiting from the militarization of US borders. Through their campaign contributions, lobbying, constant engagement with government officials, and the revolving door between industry and government, these border security corporations and their government allies have formed a powerful border–industrial complex that is a major impediment to a humane response to migration. 

The Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable planet. For more than 40 years, TNI has served as a unique nexus between social movements, engaged scholars and policy makers. www.TNI.org

No More Deaths/No Más Muertes is a humanitarian aid organization that seeks to end death and suffering in the US-Mexico borderlands. www.nomoredeaths.org

More than a Wall PDF https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/more-than-a-wall-report.pdf

AUTHOR: Todd Miller
EDITORS: Nick Buxton, Niamh Ní Bhriain
COPYEDITOR: Deborah Eade
DESIGN: Evan Clayburg
PRINTER: Jubels
PHOTOS: All photos by Laura Saunders (www.saundersdocumentary.com) except for photos of Commissioners on p79 (Wikipedia/public domain)
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS: Emmi Bevensee, Cyrina King, Donald Merson, Liliana Salas, Jesse Herrera, and Aletha Dale
Published by Transnational Institute – www.TNI.org https://www.tni.org/en
Co-sponsored by No More Deaths – www.nomoredeaths.org September 2019
Contents of the report may be quoted or reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the source is properly cited. TNI would appreciate receiving a copy of or link to the text in which it is used or cited. Copyright in the images remains with Laura Saunders. http://www.tni.org/copyright
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to research assistants Emmi Bevensee, Cyrina King, Donald Merson, Liliana Salas, Jesse Herrera, and Aletha Dale for all help in the research and writing process; Reece Jones for reviewing the draft report.

 

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