Some people believe that if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep them out, he will jumpstart the nation’s economy. To others, this seems like a straight-up stupid plan that’s disgusting on a moral level and impossible to implement on a policy level.
To the surveillance tech and homeland security industry, Trump’s immigration policies appear to be a golden opportunity for making more money.
The Intercept reports that several top defense contractors have told their investors that they stand to profit from Trump’s victory.
CACI International was founded in 1962 by two ex-RAND Corporation employees – it’s now one of the 1,000 biggest companies in the country, according to Fortune. In addition to IT services, CACI is also contracted to do translations and interrogations for the US Government. The company is currently being sued by former Abu Ghraib inmates, who allege that they were tortured by CACI employees.
Here’s what CACI Chief Financial Officer Tom Mutryn had to say when asked if CACI might have a role in Trump’s immigration plans:
“Yes, I think absolutely, yes… [CACI can provide] a better system to kind of track people in the United States, an IT system where there’s a more robust visibility into people who are living in the United States.”
Unisys Corporation sells surveillance tech to US Customs and Border Protection and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Over 1,000 Unisys employees have security clearances, and they’re using radio frequency identification, license plate readers, and other methods to build products that track people entering and leaving the US.
At a recent presentation in Boca Raton, Unisys Chief Financial Officer Inder Singh acknowledged that Trump’s election should be good for business:
“We would wait to see what the new President lays out in terms of priorities, but certainly things that we’ve heard suggests that they would be well aligned with what we do today for the country.”
If you’re in the right business, nationalism pays.
