Immigration detention boom in Central Texas

Earlier I discussed the coming detention boom spurred by misguided US immigration policies and how private prisons and some county jails view the situation as a potential, long-term cash cow. As protesters prepare for today's El Dia Sin Los Immigrantes, the feds continue to roll out massive new spending on old, failed approaches. Here's a microcosm of that phenomenon playing out in Central Texas:

A mothballed private prison facility in Taylor, a small town in Williamson County north of Austin, will soon begin housing immigration detainees, News 8 reported this weekend. The facility will house up to 600 immigrant families, according to the report, and employ around 200 people to administer and guard them. I wonder where the guards will come from? The State of Texas already can't find enough people for that job - the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is nearly 3,000 prison guards short and has reached the bottom of the applicant pool.

In any event, do you suppose those 200 employees and their families will be voting for candidates to rationalize immigration policies or for those who want to boost enforcement and thus guarantee their jobs? That's the most frustrating part to me about the current approach. As President Bush points out, it's impossible to deport our way out of the problem. Even so, we're spending a fortune in federal pork to manufacture new constituencies who benefit from current failed policies, not looking for real solutions on immigration.