Cuban American Ileana Ros Lehtinen a member of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), private prison companies have played a key role in lobbying for and passing harsher sentencing for non-violent offenses affecting Mexican immigrants.
According to the Huffington Post:
With Republicans assailing President Barack Obama for shaking the hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela’s funeral on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry pushed back at a House hearing later that day, saying the focus should be on the revered South African leader.
Answering criticism by anti-Castro Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Kerry also said the hand clasp did not represent any change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.
“Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant,” Ros-Lehtinen told Kerry at a hearing that focused on nuclear negotiations with Iran. She held up photos of the handshake.
“Raul Castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy advocates,” Ros-Lehtinen said, adding that the Cuban regime beat those imprisoned activists, who “will feel disheartened when they see these photos.”
I have already pointed out several times before that the Mexican-American population accounts for most of the Latino population pie. We are almost 70% of the Latin pie while Cubanos only account for 3% of the population pie. What we see is how Cuban Americans are extremely assertive when it comes to Cuban politics while throwing a bone or two as it relates to Mexicans.
For instance, what can Mexican American voters make of the Cuban American politician via Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and her bloody handshakes with regard to American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as it relates to private prisons who profit from detaining mostly Mexican immigrants? Mexican immigrants do not benefit from privileged amnesty like Cuban immigrants do, so why won’t Rep. Ros-Lehtinen cut her ties with ALEC as she criticizes Obama for shaking Fidel Castro’s hands at Nelson Mandela’s funeral?
“…Has been part of an intentional effort by the private prison industry to shape public policy to push more people into prison and keep them there longer. The industry has achieved this through the classic three-pronged strategy of contributing to political campaigns, lobbying, and gaining access to policymakers through close relationships.”
If you spend a minute to reflect on that point, you’ll come to the same conclusion I have: it’s not just that the current campaign finance system is bad for our country. It’s immoral.
Here are a few key points from the report that lay out the argument:
- Through involvement in the leadership of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), private prison companies have played a key role in lobbying for and passing harsher sentencing for non-violent offenses including three-strike laws, mandatory sentencing, and truth-in-sentencing. They are also behind the recent spate of anti-immigrant state laws that are putting more and more immigrants behind bars — the new profit center for the prison industrial complex.
- Private prison companies employ legions of lobbyists to push for policies that support their bottom line. Since 2001, three major prison companies, CCA, GEO Group and Cornell, have spent over $22 million lobbying Congress. Recent lobbying by CCA and GEO Group includes efforts to increase funding to Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Since 2003, CCA has employed 204 of lobbyists in 32 states, and GEO Group has employed by 79 lobbyists in 17 states. ….
The growing influence of these private prison companies over our criminal justice and immigration policies is a chilling reminder of what happens when corporations can spend large amounts of money to curry favor with elected officials.
More Mexican-American voices speak out against the Cuban American representative. Carlos Galindo is a national radio show political talk show host who conducts his show in both Spanish and in English. Here is how he pushes back against Rep. Ros-Lehtinen:
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen chastizes President Obama for shaking the hand of Raul Castro, claiming Castro would propagandize the handshake. However, Ros-Lehtinen propogandized her visit and her handshake with the #Fast4Families recently. She visits community leaders and organizers fasting for Immigration Reform, when she is part and parcel of the obstructionism that prevails in a majority Republican house, and Ros-Lehtinen has the gall to visit the #Fast4Families Fasters?
I say Ros-Lehtinen who is of Cuban descent is very passionate about this subject, but notice how when it has to do with her, Cuba, Castro etc. She can use hyperbole and extreme rhetoric, and everyone is supposed to jump on the GOP bandwagon. But if the Immigrant community gets upset and asks that the GOP Reps in the house move forward on Immigration Reform, She and the rest of the House Klan act like they are spewing extreme rhetoric and hyperbole.
Ah, the GOP and their double standard. One thing is for sure, they’re consistent.
