The state contract called for the company to “house between 250-700 people within a warehouse or other large building,” and emails and other records show the company was preparing plans for converting a former CVS store into an interim housing facility. The city contract is using the $125 million state deal secured months ago with GardaWorld, though state officials said they had no involvement with the city deal. They should be identified, apprehended and delivered to law enforcement,” Florida’s Division of Emergency Management wrote. “The migrant and refugee issues are not going away,” and that “a small percentage of these migrants are criminals and malicious actors from foreign entities. While GardaWorld had reportedly presented its migrant work to Denver officials as humanitarian-focused, The Tampa Bay Times noted DeSantis’ administration specifically sought vendors that would agree with the following “truths”: That contract was amended three times since, according to the website.Ĭhicago and Illinois officials have decried the Republican governors for what they say are efforts to manipulate a humanitarian crisis for a political stunt. The signed Florida agreement includes a cover letter from GardaWorld’s vice president of contracts, David Watson, who vowed, “In the wake of increasing numbers of migrants arriving in Florida, GWFS stands ready to assist the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) by providing mature and proven project management and transportation services to ensure dignified relocation services,” according to a heavily redacted copy uploaded on a Florida state database. GardaWorld signed the contract with Florida’s executive office of the governor - who is also a 2024 Republican presidential candidate - in June, with amendments stretching to Aug. In addition, the firm was one of three finalists in Florida for DeSantis’ plans to relaunch a program relocating migrants to Democratic-led cities, according to the state’s online records. The company also has contracted with the Canadian government to “provide detention and transportation services” in the Vancouver area, according to a case study on its website. Led by the Colorado branch of the progressive, Philadelphia-based American Friends Service Committee, the critics said the company has worked with the federal government at Fort Bliss, a facility along the southern border in El Paso, Texas, that houses unaccompanied children who crossed the border. The Denver mayor’s office withdrew the plan in July after heavy backlash from advocates and nonprofit organizations contended GardaWorld does not have experience running humane migrant shelters and that the firm comes from a background of “military-style operations,” the Denver Post reported. That drew alarm earlier this year from immigration advocates in Denver who successfully helped sink the proposed $40 million contract. In the past decade, GardaWorld has received contracts across North American to provide migrant-related services that include detention. Representatives with GardaWorld declined to comment Wednesday. We’d like to discuss possible implications here.” Sharing a Denver Post article about the company’s scuttled efforts to secure a $40 million contract to provide migrant services to the city of Denver, the city’s deputy mayor for immigration, Beatriz Ponce de León, wrote in a July 24 email with state officials, “Sharing this article about Denver’s rejection of GaurdaWorld (sic). The administration did not address any of the controversies and said GardaWorld was selected “based on expediency” because the company had a preexisting master contract with the state that the city was able to piggyback on.īut two months ago, records obtained by the Tribune show members of Johnson’s administration raised questions about the firm. Late Wednesday, after word of the contract was reported by the Tribune and other news outlets, Johnson’s administration released a statement saying the contract “enables the City to stand up the base camps expeditiously, and more quickly move new arrivals from Chicago Police Department district stations as the weather begins to change.”
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