Latino VoicesLatino Politicsimmigrant detentiondetention

Detention Center Forced Immigrants To Work For $1 Per Day Or Face Solitary Confinement, Lawsuit Says

Detention Center Forced Immigrants To Work For $1 Per Day, Lawsuit Says
Open Image Modal
By 

National Reporter, HuffPost

|
Open Image Modal
AURORA, CO (03-22-2006) -- The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Alien Detention Facility in Aurora, 11901 E. 30th Ave., will collect the various Mexican nationals involved in traffic accidents this week in Colorado and most likely offer them transportation back across the border. Illegal aliens who choose this option do not receive a black mark on their record. (DENVER POST PHOTO BY KARL GEHRING.) (Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

A group of former immigrant detainees is suing the owner of a Colorado detention center, alleging that it forced them to work for $1 per day and coerced them using the threat of solitary confinement if they refused to comply.

The civil lawsuit filed last week demands that the GEO Group, the corporation that owns the 1,500-bed Aurora Detention Facility, pay back the immigrants’ lost wages as well as damages. Altogether, the claims total more than $5 million.

“This is an uncomplicated case of unpaid minimum wages,” the complaint says.

Authorities at the detention center required detainees to clean all areas of the center, including the medical facility, bathrooms and showers, according to the complaint. Others helped prepare meals, performed clerical work or served as barbers, among other jobs, the complaint says.

For their services, GEO Group paid the detainees $1 per day, the lawsuit says. In some instances, the plaintiffs say they received no payment at all. Those that refused to work sometimes faced threats, the complaint says, including solitary confinement.

The lawsuit says the GEO Group justified the arrangement as a volunteer program in which the $1 daily salary amounted to a stipend rather than a wage. The lawsuit contends that the scheme violates federal and state minimum wage laws.

GEO Group denied the allegations in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post, saying its volunteer program complied with federal law.

"The volunteer work program at immigration facilities as well as the wage rates and standards associated with the program are set by the Federal government," the statement says. "Our facilities adhere to these standards as well as strict contractual requirements and all standards set by ICE, and the agency employs several full-time, on-site contract monitors who have a physical presence at each of GEO’s facilities."

The GEO Group, which is the country's second-largest for-profit prison company, reported $1.52 billion in revenue last year, according to the complaint. The Aurora facility houses immigrant detainees on behalf of U.S. immigration authorities.

The lawsuit comes as President Barack Obama’s administration plans an expansion of family detention due to an influx Central American families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

UPDATE: This post was updated on Friday at 4:45 p.m. to add a comment from GEO Group.

Our 2024 Coverage Needs You

As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.

Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.

to keep our news free for all.

Support HuffPost

Before You Go

Immigrant Detention
(01 of13)
Open Image Modal
FILE - This Jan. 11, 2012 file photo shows a man waiting to be processed at a Border Patrol detention center in Imperial Beach, Calif. With border crossings at a 40-year low, the U.S. Border Patrol announced a new strategy Tuesday, May 8, 2012 that targets repeat crossers and tries to find out why they keeping coming. For nearly two decades, the Border Patrol has relied on a strategy that blanketed heavily trafficked corridors for illegal immigrants with agents, pushing migrants to more remote areas where they would presumably be easier to capture and discouraged from trying again. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File) (credit:AP)
Gary Mead(02 of13)
Open Image Modal
FILE -In a March 13, 2012 file photo, Gary Mead, executive associate director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations, stands at a new civil detention facility for low-risk detainees in Karnes City, Texas. The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever before, generating a lucrative business for the nation's largest prison companies. Mead said that the government has never studied if privatizing immigrant detention saves money. (AP Photo/Will Weissert, File) (credit:AP)
AP A TX USA Family Detention Center(03 of13)
Open Image Modal
(credit:AP)
Gary Mead(04 of13)
Open Image Modal
FILE -In a March 13, 2012 file photo, Gary Mead, executive associate director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations, speaks to reporters by a soccer field at a new civil detention facility for low-risk detainees in Karnes City, Texas, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever before, generating a lucrative business for the nation's largest prison companies. Mead said that the government has never studied if privatizing immigrant detention saves money. (AP Photo/Will Weissert, File) (credit:AP)
(05 of13)
Open Image Modal
A hallway near the medical and dental clinics at a new civil detention facility for low-risk inmates in Karnes City, Texas, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Federal officials are holding up the new facility as the centerpiece of an initiative to treat those facing immigration violation charges more humanely after lawsuits filed in past years. (AP Photo/Will Weissert) (credit:AP)
(06 of13)
Open Image Modal
A guard holds open a door to the barber shop at a new civil detention facility for low-risk inmates in Karnes City, Texas, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Federal officials are holding up the new facility as the centerpiece of an initiative to treat those facing immigration violation charges more humanely after lawsuits filed in past years. (AP Photo/Will Weissert) (credit:AP)
(07 of13)
Open Image Modal
A guard walks by rooms at a new civil detention facility for low-risk inmates in Karnes City, Texas, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Federal officials are holding up the new facility as the centerpiece of an initiative to treat those facing immigration violation charges more humanely after lawsuits filed in past years. (AP Photo/Will Weissert) (credit:AP)
(08 of13)
Open Image Modal
FILE - TO GO WITH INMIGRANTE DETENCION - In this Dec. 17, 2011 file photo, Tara Ammons Cohen reads with her son, Gavin, about a family friend in the local newspaper. Ammons Cohen was arrested in October 2008 on a drug charge and spent nearly three years locked up at the federal immigration detention center in Tacoma. She can (credit:AP)
(09 of13)
Open Image Modal
Advocates opposed to a planned New Jersey immigrant detention center gather at Military Park in Newark, N.J., prior to marching to the Essex County Freeholders meeting, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. A contract to enlarge an existing facility was canceled earlier this year after questioned were raised as to why a politically connected company was the sole bidder. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (credit:AP)
(10 of13)
Open Image Modal
Advocates opposed to a planned New Jersey immigrant detention center gather at Military Park in Newark, N.J., prior to marching to the Essex County Freeholders meeting, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. A contract to enlarge an existing facility was canceled earlier this year after questioned were raised as to why a politically connected company was the sole bidder. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (credit:AP)
Ryann Greenberg, Ava Greenberg(11 of13)
Open Image Modal
In this photo taken Tuesday, July 26, 2011, Ryann Greenberg, left, stands with her daughter Ava, 2, in their back yard as she points to land in the distance where a proposed detention center would be built in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Town leaders in nearby Southwest Ranches have plans to build a 1,500-bed detention center facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A growing group of residents from Southwest Ranches and neighboring cities are seeking to halt the effort. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (credit:AP)
(12 of13)
Open Image Modal
In this photo taken Tuesday, July 26, 2011, a sign is posted at the site for a proposed detention center to be built in Southwest Ranches, Fla. Town leaders in this upscale rural enclave have plans to build a 1,500-bed detention center facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A growing group of residents from Southwest Ranches and neighboring cities are seeking to halt the effort. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (credit:AP)
(13 of13)
Open Image Modal
*In this photo taken Tuesday, July 26, 2011, horses graze at the Blue Heron Ranch in Southwest Ranches, Fla. Town leaders in this upscale rural enclave have plans to build a 1,500-bed detention center facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A growing group of residents from Southwest Ranches and neighboring cities are seeking to halt the effort. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (credit:AP)
Suggest a correction
|
Submit a tip