CFA Members Call for CalPERS to Cut Investments in Private Migrant Detention

On Monday, August 19, a contingent of CFA faculty gathered at the headquarters of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to call on its Investment Committee to finally stop investing in private migrant detention prison operators, CoreCivic and GEO Group.

This was the third mobilization of CFA members to CalPERS board meetings since the CFA Assembly passed a resolution calling on CalPERS to drop these companies from its investment portfolio. Clad in CFA-red shirts, our activists, who are also CalPERS members, took this opportunity to address the Board and reiterate why they do not want their retirement connected in any way to the atrocities associated with private migrant prisons.

In an effort to further raise awareness of the deplorable business practices of private prisons, CFA members are taking pictures with a specially made frame that they can personalize with a message about why they want their retirement out of migrant detention. The pictures are being shared via social media and faculty on the 23 CSU campuses are taking part in this campaign. Additionally, CFA also delivered more than 200 member-signed postcards urging the pension giant to cease these investments; if you would like to sign and send in a postcard to CalPERS, please contact your local chapter representative.

When CFA’s Associate Vice President Margarita Berta-Ávila took her turn at the microphone, she did not mince her words, insisting, “We want you to hear us loudly and clearly on this matter…you have read the heart wrenching stories and seen the dreadful footage capturing the savage tactics that private prisons employ at our southern border. They [Corecivic and GEO Group] are human rights abusers on par with the most corrupt and villainous regimes around the world.” To view the entirety of Margarita’s comments, please click here.