Illegal Aliens Awaiting Deportation Got Preferred Jobs in U.S. Prisons

Federal Prison Industries (FPI), the government-owned corporation that operates factories in federal prisons, employed 37 inmates as of June 2012 who had been issued final deportation orders and were therefore ineligible for FPI employment.

Although those 37 illegal alien inmates represented less than one percent of Federal Prison Industries’ total inmate employees, the audit shows a “weakness in FPI’s internal controls,” says a recent report from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

“We found that FPI’s internal controls did not ensure that aliens who were ordered deported were removed from FPI employment as required,” the report said.

Federal Prison Industries says once the matter came to its attention, it immediately removed 35 of the 37 deportable inmates from FPI employment. Of the remaining two inmates, one claimed he had been misidentified, and one had already stopped working at FPI.

Of the 12,394 inmates FPI employed as of June 2012, 1,580 (approximately 13 percent) were not U.S. citizens, but only 37 had received final deportation orders, which should have precluded them from holding FPI jobs.

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