As the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has ramped up, officials are sending some migrants to a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that's run by the subsidiary of an Alaska Native corporation.
Much of what happens at Guantanamo is shrouded in secrecy. The U.S. naval base there is infamous for the government's alleged abuse of enemy combatants rounded up in the War on Terror.
And now there are questions about how Akima Infrastructure Protection — a subsidiary of Akima, itself a subsidiary of NANA Regional Corporation — is treating migrants detained at a separate facility there.
Investigative journalist José Olivares wrote about Akima recently for the Guardian. Olivares says the questions about Akima follow accusations of civil rights abuses and health and safety issues at the company's other detention facilities.
Below is the transcript of an interview with Olivares on Alaska News Nightly. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
José Olivares: And the Inspector General essentially found that at the Florida facility that is run by Akima, there were instances where guards used an inappropriate use of force on immigrant detainees who were held there. There's one example that is listed that is cited in the Inspector General's report in which guards opened the slot to a solitary confinement door and pepper sprayed a man who was detained in there, even though, and this is from the words of the Inspector General, even though this person did not pose a threat to himself or to anybody else. That facility, since Trump stepped into office, has had two deaths, two separate migrants who were detained at this facility have died since Trump stepped into office.
And if we look at the other facilities, too, around the country, the Port Isabel detention center in Texas, which is run by Akima, that facility has been criticized for just the horrendous conditions inside the solitary confinement units. The conditions were so bad that the Inspector General actually recommended that the entire building be condemned and torn down and built again, because of the ceiling that was caving in, the conditions, the mold, everything that was just so, so terrible within this building.
So there's been a lot of complaints about these different facilities that Akima runs throughout the U.S. as part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, network.
Casey Grove: And in terms of how big Akima itself is, how much money do they get from the federal government in a year?
JO: Akima is massive. And I think the exact numbers are hard to find out, because Akima is a subsidiary of the NANA Regional Corporation. And so, because these Alaska Native corporations are owned by, you know, indigenous Native Alaskan shareholders, we don't really know about what goes on behind the scenes, right? The shares cannot be traded and cannot be sold. So there's very little regulation from the federal government, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.
So NANA itself, it's really, really difficult to understand and grasp the sheer size and how much money that NANA and Akima are making now. Last year, Akima did announce, they did publicly announce, that the company is worth $2 billion, and they have, you know, over 40 subsidiaries within the broader Akima company, and all of those subsidiaries are getting multi-million dollar contracts with the federal government.
CG: Is there a higher proportion of Alaska Native corporations in this line of work, or is it just that Alaska Native corporations are into government contracting, and that's what the contracts are for?
JO: I think it's difficult to say what the proportion is between just general security contractors and other federal government contractors, and how it compares to Alaska Native corporations. But I think it's easier for a lot of these federal government (contracts) to go to Alaska Native corporations, and there are dozens and dozens of subsidiaries, right?
So, because there are so many subsidiaries, and because they are owned by Native Alaskan shareholders, they technically are classified and qualify to be determined to be small businesses, right, and small minority-owned businesses. And so they're able to very quickly get government, federal government, contracts for this type of work that essentially just kind of doesn't necessarily force the government or these corporations to go through extensive contracting bids and negotiations that maybe other companies might.
But yes, I mean, Akima is not the only Alaska Native corporation that does these types of federal government contracting work. I've done a story, for example, the Bering Straits Corporation, they run, or they used to run, at least, a detention center in El Paso, an immigration detention center in El Paso. But a lot of the other immigration jails, the majority of them are run by private corporations, including CoreCivic or GEO Group or other large private prison companies. So, no, Akima is not the only one that's doing this type of work, but it is significant to note how they're able to very quickly get these types of government contracts, and it is significant to note that they received the federal government contract to run the ICE facility at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base last year under the Biden administration.
CG: Yeah. So, José, tell me if I'm oversimplifying this, but it seems like at at one end of this you've got a lucrative government contract and migrants that are being detained in Guantanamo and elsewhere, and at the other end of this are Alaska Native shareholders that, in some way, are benefiting from that, right?
JO: I think so. I think it's OK to simplify that, and I think it kind of speaks to just the broader questions about the system, right? I mean, I think because Akima has so many subsidiaries, I think the question that needs to be posed is, "Do the shareholders, do the Native Alaskan people who truly do own the NANA Regional Corporation, are they fully aware of the type of contracting work that the companies that they partly own are doing?" I mean, are they? Are they aware of the rights abuses that these companies have been accused of? Do they have any certain oversight?
And I think it's really important to not necessarily blame the shareholders, the Alaska Native shareholders, for this, but the broader system of this immigration detention center and this private contracting system that opens a door for these types of actions to take place.
Olivares got no response after multiple requests for comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, Akima, and multiple attorneys representing Akima in a lawsuit and in contract disputes.
