On October 22, 2014, a class action lawsuit was filed by over 60,000 detainees of GEO Group’s Processing Immigration Center against GEO Group Inc. for violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and unjustly enriching itself under unlawful labor practices. The class of detainees alleged that they were forced into labor by threats of facing solitary confinement. They allege that they were forced to clean common areas, walls, floors, toilets, tables, chairs, and windows, as well as run the understaffed processing center for $1 a day. In 2017, the class was certified by the U.S. District Court of Colorado. GEO argued that the case could not proceed as the company was subject to derivative sovereign immunity because the Group was complying with government orders under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with respect to labor, punishment, and wages.
Read the full article by Sasha Magruder on the Class Action Blog.