WASHINGTON — With private migrant detention facilities under a microscope and a rife topic in the presidential election, an examination of campaign records shows that two Texas lawmakers are among the top recipients of donations from the controversial industry.

The GEO Group’s PAC has given $10,000 to Sen. John Cornyn and $14,700 to Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, so far in the 2020 election cycle. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, received $5,000.

GEO is one of the biggest players in the for-profit prison industry, with 69 correctional and detention facilities in the United States with about 75,000 beds. In Texas, Florida-based GEO operates detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Conroe, Del Rio, Karnes City, Laredo, Pearsall and Robstown. ICE has contracts with GEO and other companies to run detention centers for asylum seekers and migrants caught crossing the border without authorization.

Cornyn, a three-term senator, is up for reelection in 2020. Cuellar, an eight-term moderate who has easily secured reelection for years, is being targeted by the left in next year’s Democratic primary. Both already face progressive challengers who have castigated their willingness to take donations from the for-profit detention industry.

Sen. John Cornyn (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

The industry has received heat in recent months as reports have uncovered abuse and squalid conditions. GEO-operated facilities have also been heavily scrutinized. The company has faced class-action lawsuits that allege the company forced detainees to work. At one of its centers in Southern California, inspectors found nooses braided from bedsheets in 15 out of the 20 cells they searched. Seven suicide attempts have been made there, according to a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report. At least three migrants have died in ICE custody at that center alone since June 2017.

GEO has donated to more than 50 lawmakers this election cycle, including the three Texans.

Although Cuellar, a Democrat, has been a top recipient, the company has largely funneled money to powerful Republicans — including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Trump received $20,000. McConnell, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of Virginia and Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia each received $15,000. McCarthy and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida each received $10,000. A PAC controlled by Pence received $5,000.

GEO also donated $40,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee — campaign arms of the party.

The controversy has become a fixture in the Democratic presidential contest. Last month, Texans Beto O'Rourke and Julián Castro and other hopefuls joined protesters outside the nation's largest detention center for migrant teens in Homestead, Fla., not far from the site of the first debates in Miami. The candidates, some visibly emotional, assailed Trump's treatment of migrants and called for the center's closure.

Texas recipients

Companies that run private prisons have a long history of making campaign donations.

Nearly a dozen Texas lawmakers took in $87,000 from GEO PAC donations during the 2018 election cycle. The top recipients were former Rep. John Culberson, Cuellar, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. John Carter (whose challenger, M.J. Hegar, is now running against Cornyn), Cornyn, Rep. Michael McCaul (then chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee) and Rep. Will Hurd.

Culberson, who was ousted by freshman Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher in Houston, received $25,000 and had chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which oversees funding for private prisons. Hurd, whose district is home to two GEO-operated facilities, received $5,000. His campaign returned a $2,300 check this election cycle in November 2018.

Rep. Kay Granger (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)

Granger is the senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee, in line to be chairwoman if Republicans retake the House. Cuellar is a high-ranking Democrat on the committee.

Hegar has rebuked Cornyn, the beneficiary of $23,000 from GEO’s PAC since 2003, for taking donations from private detention centers.

“For almost 20 years, Senator John Cornyn has repeatedly proven to Texans that he will sell them out to his corporate donors,” she said in a statement. “It comes as no surprise that while his campaign rakes in cash from the private detention industry, he has supported policies that separate children from families and endangered our country by failing to fix our broken immigration system, ensuring a supply of detainees for his donors.”

Cornyn's response

“I don’t have any response,” Cornyn said during a call with reporters Wednesday. “I’m going to let the Democratic primary work itself out and then I’ll be glad to run against the nominee of the Democratic party. I’m not going to run against three or four of them.”

After Bank of America announced it would no longer do business with detention centers, Cornyn threatened last month to quit using the bank. Asked whether he made the switch, Cornyn said he would not discuss his "private banking arrangements."

“But let me just say, the thing that I found offensive is that some banks and lending institutions are succumbing to political pressure and threatening to quit doing business with legal and legitimate businesses,” he said.

He has been to detention facilities himself, Cornyn added, and will be heading to the southern border with Vice President Mike Pence on Friday to McAllen, home to a large detention facility.

“The ones I’ve seen in the past I think have been handled well. I’m going back on Friday to see if I can find any evidence to the contrary, and if I do, I’ll certainly be speaking up,” he said.

Cornyn has been warning Republicans that Democrats are angling to break the GOP's three-decade grip in Texas. Although he won reelection twice without much difficulty, last year's Senate race put a scare into Republicans. Cruz won with just 50.9% of the vote, barely fending off O'Rourke. It was the closest race in the state in 40 years and it cast a light on Texas' shifting demographics and potential as a battleground.

Hegar, an Air Force veteran, came nearly as close to toppling Carter last fall, but for a shot at Cornyn she’ll have to get past a number of likely competitors in the primary, including former Houston congressman Chris Bell, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas and Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards.

Cuellar's challenger

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Cuellar’s primary challenger, 26-year-old immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros, has repeatedly bashed him for accepting donations from GEO. Since 2009, the GEO PAC has donated $64,390 to Cuellar, who serves on the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, which oversees funding for private migrant detention centers.

Cuellar, who last won reelection with 84% of the vote, is one of the Democratic incumbents being targeted by the Justice Democrats, a progressive group that backed New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her stunning upset over Joe Crowley, a member of the House Democratic leadership who had been seen as a future speaker.

Cisneros has vowed to make Cuellar's record of accepting donations from private detention centers core to the campaign.

“As an immigration attorney, I've seen the horrible conditions in there and the human rights abuses that people suffer,” Cisneros said. “It's absolutely wrong to profiteer off of human suffering.”

Colin Strother, Cuellar’s campaign spokesman, noted that GEO is one of the largest employers in the district and asserted that campaign contributions do not influence Cuellar’s decisions. There are no plans for the campaign to stop accepting donations from private detention companies, he said.

“Large employers tend to support their incumbent elected officials, as does GEO, and we're grateful for their support,” Strother said.

Cuellar supported a $4.6 billion emergency border spending bill backed by Senate Republicans last month, which caused a rift between moderate and progressive Democrats in the House. Progressives called for stronger protections for unaccompanied minors and greater limits on how the administration could use funds. Moderates pressured members within the caucus to swiftly pass a bill and clear the humanitarian aid before the weeklong July 4 recess.

Cisneros accused Cuellar of giving Trump a “blank check,” asserting that his vote helped to further Republicans’ anti-immigrant agenda.

Cuellar, however, defended his decision and said the funding will be used for food and medical treatment for migrants. “The $4.6 billion we’ve allocated will address the unprecedented surge of migrants at the southern border and ensure improved humanitarian care for migrant children and families,” he said in a statement.

Another top private detention company, CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, has also contributed to several Texans in both parties, including $23,000 to Cornyn since 2003 and $10,000 to Cuellar since 2012.

Management and Training Corp. similarly has a lengthy record of donating to Texans. The company has given $11,750 to Cuellar since 2005 — the most of any Texas member of Congress.