Some shareholders with one of Alaska's largest corporations are speaking out about the company's involvement in immigration detention centers overseen by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, including at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

NANA, an Alaska regional Native corporation from Northwest Alaska, gets most of its revenue from its Akima subsidiary. Akima owns dozens of companies that provide a variety of contracting services to the federal government. Some of the contracts include running migrant detention centers where audits and groups have criticized safety and health standards.

One of those companies, Akima Infrastructure Protection, won a $163 million contract from the Biden administration last year to run a migrant detention facility at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, known for the separate military prison used to hold terrorism suspects.

President Donald Trump, through an executive order, has ordered the detention facility to house up to 30,000 migrants. That has raised concerns among immigrant rights' advocates who have sued the Trump administration and argued that keeping detainees at the remote center will be costly, and result in violations of due process rights and humane treatment.

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, a NANA shareholder and former board member for the corporation, said she was dismayed to read a recent article in The Guardian that discusses that contract and concerns about Akima facing accusations of civil rights abuses at some migrant detention centers.

She said this issue also cropped up in 2018, and she and other shareholders are disappointed to see that it is continuing.

Representatives with NANA, including NANA board chair Piquk Linda Lee and Akima chief executive Bill Monet, did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment for this story.

Akima's huge role at NANA

NANA reported $2.8 billion in revenues in 2024, and distributed nearly $47 million in revenue to shareholders, according to the corporation's 2024 annual report.

Akima accounted for close to 80% of the revenue, pulling in $2.2 billion, the report showed.

Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Akima had "a record-breaking $3.1 billion in contract wins in FY24," the annual report says. Founded 30 years ago, the company "supports federal missions on over 2,000 active contracts," the report says.

Contracts of Akima subsidiaries include creating immersive training environments for special forces and ensuring mission readiness for aircraft, including jumbo jets and Air Force One, the report says. The companies operate satellite systems for the Department of Defense, conduct environmental studies for the U.S. Geological Survey, and maintain critical infrastructure at NASA and other agencies, the report says.

Akima, which means "to win" in the Iñupiaq language, pursues benefits under the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program. The program provides contracting advantages to Alaska Native corporations, which have been designated as minority and economically disadvantaged. The 8(a) program allows companies to team up with experienced partners, and pursue large, set-aside or sole-source contracting opportunities with the federal government.

The Guardian article, published in February, raised concerns about some Akima subsidiaries and immigrant detention centers.

The story said that Akima Global Services runs multiple migrant detention centers, including a detention center in Buffalo and Krome North service processing center in Florida.

The Guardian reported that:

— Akima Global Services was faulted for violating use-of-force standards in incidents at Krome North service processing center in Miami, in an audit last year by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General. Guards used inappropriate force on multiple occasions, including a chokehold on a detainee and pepper-spraying another detainee through a solitary confinement door slot, though the detainee didn't threaten anyone, the audit found.

— The detention center in Buffalo was the subject of a civil rights complaint, when immigrant rights groups accused guards of using physical force and solitary confinement to deal with hunger strikers protesting prolonged detentions in cells and an end to free phone calls to family.

Opposition to NANA's involvement

Schaeffer, along with two other NANA shareholders, organized a survey last month on Facebook to ask how shareholders viewed the corporation's involvement in the detention centers, which was previously reported by Alaska Public Media.

"Mostly I'm wondering why we'd even be in this line of work because it goes against everything we are as Iñupiaq," Schaeffer said, referring to traditional Iñupiaq values.

Those values are spelled out on NANA's website and in a video from Akima.

They include treating everyone with dignity and respect, honesty and integrity.

The survey was small. Over a week, 102 people responded anonymously, all NANA shareholders, Schaeffer said. (NANA is owned by more than 15,500 Iñupiaq shareholders.)

The survey asked if NANA should allow subsidiaries to operate immigration detention centers and provide services for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

By far, most said NANA should not let its subsidiaries provide those services. A small minority said it should.

Close to half didn't know Akima operated immigrant detention centers.

The results were presented to the NANA board at the corporation's annual meeting last month in the village of Shungnak in Northwest Alaska, Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer said NANA leadership has provided no direct response to the shareholders who organized the survey. She said she and other shareholders plan to press the issue in a letter to the NANA board.

Kat Napaaqtuk Milligan-McClellan, an author of the survey, said she wrote a letter to NANA leadership on this same topic in 2018, urging them not to pursue any contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the future, she said.

"Nothing has changed since then," she said. "We still have contracts with ICE, even though we know that there have been several issues with Akima and ICE in the past."

The survey results are reassuring, she said.

"It was really helpful to know that other NANA shareholders agree that NANA subsidiaries should not be working with ICE, and that the mistreatment of immigrants goes against" Iñupiaq values, she said.

Many survey respondents included statements with their answers. A handful expressed support for the detention centers.

"These questions are based on a prejudiced view of ICE activities derived from an article in a publication critical of law enforcement, contracting, and the current administration. As a NANA shareholder, I am impressed and proud of the work Akima does and trust that Akima employees do their best. Let's support them as they support us," one comment said.

About 50 respondents provided comments opposing NANA subsidiaries running detention centers. Several used the word "racist" to describe Trump's efforts to detain and deport immigrants.

"We as Indigenous people know what it's like to be racially profiled and I wonder if that's what's happened to some of those detainees just because of their ethnic origin," another wrote. "I don't think Nana should partake in these types of contracts just for the money.

"Hurting other humans is not in our Ilitqusit," one commenter wrote, referring to Iñupiaq values and traditions.

"While cash is needed for NANA to remain operational, it cannot be at the expense of potentially hurting people in any manner," another said.

Schaeffer said the lack of a response from NANA speaks volumes.

"Shareholders have asked for more transparency for years and get excuses as to why it can't be done — most are because, 'It could harm our businesses and competitors,'" she said.

"But we're simply asking why we are engaged in this line of work and how many such contracts there are," she said.

Milligan-McClellan said she believes NANA should terminate its contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"I'm a shareholder and I should have a voice in the way that my company and subsidiaries are being run," she said. "And the other thing that is very frustrating to me is that we don't get a response from the board or from the (NANA) president. This is distressing to me because I don't know if they are going to act upon this."

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