Alaska Native corporations hold government contracts for border work

Wednesday, July 25, 2018  

Alaska Native corporations are big players in government contracting and it's no surprise that some of their work takes them to the U.S. border.

The Anchorage Daily News combed through the Federal Procurement Data System and found that Native corporations have taken on at least $1 billion in border-related contracts since 2012. Some of that work has been with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that has come under fire for carrying out the Trump administration's harsh immigration policies.

Global Precision Systems, for example, has a contract to provide detention, transportation and meal services to the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas. The firm is a subsidiary of Bering Straits Native Corporation.

"As indigenous people applying strong traditional values, we at BSNC strive to ensure that all individuals who work for us and our subsidiaries, or who are placed in our care, are treated with dignity and respect," Bering Straits President Gail Schubert said in a statement on the corporation's website.

"During a recent site visit, I visited the center and observed our subsidiary employees interact at several levels with individuals placed at the center," Schubert added. "I found our subsidiary employees to be respectful, courteous and responsive, while still ensuring that our subsidiary met the standards of our contract."

“Families belong together” National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel statement on forced separations. @NCAI1944 pic.twitter.com/ePZrFFLCy7

— indianz.com (@indianz) June 19, 2018

Ahtna Inc. was the focus of a widely-shared article on The Daily Beast in which the firm was said to profit from the "deportation of undocumented immigrants from the United States" at the Port Isabel Detention Center, also in Texas. The story incorrectly described the corporation as a "Native American Tribe" and asserted that the contract was at odds with the views of the National Congress of American Indians.

"As an Alaska Native and shareholder-owned corporation, Ahtna constantly seeks to enhance the overall wellbeing of our shareholders through employment, educational opportunities, monetary dividends, and other benefits," the corporation said in response to the article. "Government contracting provides a vital role in our ability to provide these benefits and the provision of vital shareholder services and programs aimed at preserving our culture, developing our resources, protecting our land, enhancing the lives of our people, and maintaining our cultural identity."

NCAI, which accepts Native corporations as members, has indeed decried the forced separation of children from their families. That "zero tolerance" policy, which has since been rescinded by President Donald Trump, was not carried out at Port Isabel, which only houses adults, Ahtna said.

But it's not clear exactly what every Alaska Native corporation is doing at the border. Of those contacted by The Daily News, none provided contracts or other financial information that could offer a deeper look at their activities, the paper said.

And several corporations didn't respond to queries at all about their border-related work. But the paper noted that some contract were in place prior to the Trump administration.

Read More on the Story:
Alaska Native corporations are a billion dollars deep in border control contracts (The Anchorage Daily News July 24, 2018)