MVM, incorporated as M V M, Inc.,[1] is an American company headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, United States. It is a private security contractor that provides security contractors, staffing, training, translation, and related services to U.S. government clients including being a contractor for detaining children who are subject to immigration proceedings.[2][3][4][5]
 | |
Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Kevin Marquez, CEO |
| Services | Security contractors, staffing, training |
| Website | mvminc |
History
editFoundation
editDario O. Marquez, Jr., a former United States Secret Service agent and two other former agents co-founded MVM in 1979.[6] From 1984 through 2015 Marquez was the company's president and CEO. In 2015, Marquez sold his interest in MVM to his son, Kevin Marquez, formerly the company's chief operating officer.[7][citation needed]
In the 1980s, MVM was awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of State to supply Cleared American Guards (CAG) to U.S. embassies throughout the world. Following the 1991 Haitian coup d'état and subsequent reinstatement of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994, MVM became the first private American firm to protect a foreign head of state in his own homeland.[citation needed]
Following the September 11th attacks, MVM received contracts from the United States Army and the U.S. Justice Department. MVM continues work on these contracts as well as contracts with agencies incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2018, MVM won a contract from the FBI to conduct classified research for its High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.[8]
Contracts
editMVM currently holds multiple multimillion-dollar contracts with multiple U.S. government agencies, including the Justice Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), State Department, United States Marshals Service, the Washington, D.C. Public Schools system, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[9]
Among these is a $162 million contract with ICE to transport unaccompanied minor migrants.[10] In July 2018, it was reported that MVM used a Phoenix, Arizona office building to provide unaccompanied minors shelter during the previous three weeks despite not being zoned for human occupancy or having a state license to serve as a child care facility. According to ICE, it was for those "awaiting same-day transport with a more comfortable and private atmosphere than they might otherwise have at a public transportation hub".[11]
In July 2020, it was reported that MVM was taking unaccompanied migrant children to three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Arizona and at the Texas-Mexico border (McAllen, El Paso and Phoenix), where they were typically detained and then expelled from the United States.[12] In April 2020, at least 29 children were detained at the hotels, some with multiple stays. In May, 80 children were detained. In June 2020, 120 were detained.[13]
References
edit- ↑ "M V M, Inc". OpenCorporates.
- ↑ "Activists Aim at Defense Contractors Over Child Detention Policy". Bloomberg News. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ↑ Fernholz, Tim. "US defense contractors profit from child detention—and you might, too". Quartz. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ↑ "Job postings offer clues to inner workings of facilities for immigrant children". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ↑ Fernandez, Manny; Benner, Katie (21 June 2018). "The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children". The New York Times.
- ↑ "VA. Firm to Train Haiti Guards". The Washington Post. 15 October 1994.
- ↑ "Detained for Profit: Spending Surges Under U.S. Immigration Crackdown". Public Citizen. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ↑ "FBI Signs Interrogation Unit Contract With Firm Accused of Mistreating Separated Migrant Children". Newsweek. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ↑ "The U.S. Marshals Service awarded MVM, a privately held McLean, Va., security staffing company a five-year contract worth $125 million". Washington Technology. Archived from the original on 28 April 2006.
- ↑ Rawnsley, Adam; Ackerman, Spencer (21 June 2018). "Ex-CIA Contractor Makes Millions Flying Immigrant Kids to Shelters". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
- ↑ Bogado, Aura; Branstetter, Ziva; Swales, Vanessa (6 July 2018). "Defense contractor detained migrant kids in vacant Phoenix office building". Reveal News. The Center for Investigative Reporting. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
- ↑ "AP Exclusive: Migrant kids held in US hotels, then expelled". AP News. Associated Press. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ↑ "Her Rapist Threatened to Make Her "Disappear." Instead of Asylum, ICE Put Her in a Hotel and Sent Her Back". ProPublica. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.