Sensenbrenner - Immigration Reformer or Profiteer?

When President Bush signed into law a bill Oct. 4 authorizing the

construction of a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, one man

stood to gain more than just political profit. Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, critics say, is also reaping financial rewards from the very immigration policies he himself has championed.

Immigration rights advocates, the congressman’s Democratic opponent and some constituents are pointing to Sensenbrenner’s investments in companies they say are generating profits from the labor of undocumented immigrants.

They also say that Sensenbrenner stands to benefit from investments in companies contracted by the federal government to provide services he has proposed as part of his immigration reform legislation - such as building massive immigrant detention centers or providing surveillance systems to monitor immigrants near the border.

An analysis of companies identified in Sensenbrenner’s 2005 financial disclosure forms reveals that the congressman has invested in companies that have reportedly hired or subcontracted with employers who hire undocumented workers.

Drawing especially strong criticism are the $86,500 in stocks Sensenbrenner holds in the construction and infrastructure colossus Halliburton. The Texas-based giant has been the subject of Senate hearings into its labor practices in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

National news reports (The Washington Post, Salon.com and others) and several panelists at Senate hearings have stated that Halliburton used subcontractors hiring hundreds, perhaps thousands of undocumented workers as part of no-bid federal contracts to clean up Belle Chasse Naval Base and other military facilities in the devastated region.

Halliburton has also secured a $385 million Department of Homeland Security contract to build gigantic immigrant detention centers near the U.S.-Mexico border and stands to secure further contracts from proposals to reopen closed military bases to house deportees and detainees. Halliburton has consistently denied charges that it used undocumented labor in its Gulf Coast work.

Halliburton has also been mentioned as one of the main contractors to build increased security infrastructure, security roads and improved employment verification systems at ports of entry.

According to Sensenbrenner’s own House filings and the Congressional Record, he owns more than $563,536 in General Electric stocks. GE’s Security Unit has been a Pentagon subcontractor, providing video surveillance and other electronic ...