- Published: Monday, July 09, 2018 08:29 PM
SPRINGFIELD – While thousands of immigrant children remain in U.S. detention camps alone, scared and separated from their families, news has broken that Gov. Bruce Rauner continues to profit from their plight.
State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) has condemned the governor and called for him to divest from the detention centers and issue a more forceful rebuke of President Donald Trump’s inhumane border policies.
“Anything less than a complete denunciation of President Trump’s policies and an immediate end to this investment would be a mockery of a response to this situation,” Sandoval said. “This isn’t a gray area and this isn’t a time for the governor to retreat to the circle of spin he is accustomed to employing. This is a moral crossroads for him and for America and history is watching.”
A report from Politico showed that Rauner recently disclosed earnings from a private equity fund that owns Correct Care Solutions, a for-profit health care provider that has millions of dollars in government contracts with jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers across the country.
According to the Politico report, Correct Care has a “spotty record” and operates Karnes County Residential Center in Texas – one of just four for-profit detention facilities in the nation – where immigrant families “have complained they suffered cruelties during their detention.”
Rauner’s profit from Correct Care contributed to more than $188 million in income for the governor in his first year in office. That figure was more than three times his income from the year before, prior to his election, according to Politico.
“When I got my start in politics, public service meant organizing my neighbors to turn a vacant, decrepit lot into a beautiful school and park to serve our younger generations,” Sandoval said. “Now, apparently, public service is caging immigrant children and making sure your political allies profit from it. How did we get to this point?”
Sandoval urged all Illinoisans to read the report about Rauner’s investments at https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/illinois-governor-detention-centers-702293.
“The governor can try to duck Trump’s name all he wants, but there is no dodging a report like this,” Sandoval said. “And I’m equally concerned that Illinois has become a growing repository for an increasing number of these children under the care of Heartland Alliance.”