Dick Cheney: Criminal Mastermind or Sound Policy Advocate?

Blog of Legal Times reported recently that Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra has secured an indictment against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez in South Texas. The indictment, which has not yet been signed by a judge, accuses the two of conflict of interest by pushing for increased crackdowns and incarcerations of illegal immigrants while simultaneously investing in the Vanguard Group, an investment firm with substantial investments in private prison firms. Critics claim the outgoing lame-duck Guerra has a political axe to grind, and wants to do as much damage before his term ends at the end of the year.

Before I continue, let me just put this on. *Dons tin-foil hat* In an interesting addition to this Wall Street Journal story regarding the future profitability of private prison companies such as Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), it turns out Vanguard invests in both CCA and Geo Group. (Both are currently experiencing large profits and expect this trend to continue.) So while the executive branch of our federal government increases its prosecution of illegal immigrants under “Operation Streamline,” (leading to an increased prosecution rate of 72.7% compared to last year) our vice president and his attorney general are allegedly investing in the companies that our government is contracting with to detain these prisoners. Interesting. (In Cheney’s defense, he is a member of the legislature, right?) *Removes tin-foil hat*

Immigration officials tout the new strategy of prosecuting, rather than deporting, illegal aliens as a success. It discourages repeat offenders and hopefully makes others think twice about taking the risk to cross the border illegally. Economists such as the University of Chicago’s Jeffrey Grogger also point out that increased immigration from 1960 to 2000 was the likely cause of a 4% drop in income for American born unskilled laborers.

This particular case will probably go nowhere. Guerra has a reputation for being a little out there, and he was thoroughly trounced in elections in November. Furthermore, no one doubts that illegal immigration needs to be dealt with. Nonetheless, it would be nice if our Vice President’s wallet did not get fatter after ever significant policy decision made by his administration.