The US Supreme Court has rejected GEO Group’s attempt to shield itself from a lawsuit alleging immigration detainees were forced to work for as little as $1 a day in Colorado. The ruling allows the long-running case to move forward. This decision removes a major legal roadblock and keeps pressure on one of the country’s largest private prison companies.
Supreme Court rejects GEO’s immunity argument
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled against GEO Group in a procedural dispute tied to its ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.
The company asked the Court to let it immediately appeal a lower court decision. GEO argued it should not face the lawsuit at all because it operates the facility under a federal contract. It claimed that status gives it immunity from suit.
A district court judge rejected that argument. The US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to review the immunity claim before trial. GEO then asked the Supreme Court to intervene. The justices declined.
As a result, the case will proceed in the lower courts.
The lawsuit, first filed in 2014, alleges that detainees had to perform unpaid janitorial work and other tasks. Plaintiffs say GEO paid as little as $1 a day for additional jobs, which detainees relied on to supplement meager meals.
The billion-dollar private detention industry
Private prison corporations operate under contracts worth billions of taxpayer dollars. At the same time, detainees are often forced to perform labor inside these facilities for minimal pay. When companies profit from confinement, cost-cutting incentives can directly affect food, wages and working conditions.
The Aurora facility has faced protests, lawsuits and allegations of mistreatment and even death for years. Lawmakers recently had to seek court intervention to preserve unannounced oversight visits to immigration detention centers, highlighting ongoing transparency concerns.
The Sentinel reports,
“I’ve long pushed to end for-profit private prisons,” Aurora Democratic Rep. Jason Crow said in a statement. “Right now, corporations are incentivized and make billions of dollars to put people behind bars. It’s a broken and inhumane system. I’m leading the charge in Congress to end this practice and hold them accountable.”
Now is the time to keep the pressure on GEO
GEO remains one of the largest private detention providers in the country. It manages or owns roughly 77,000 beds across 98 facilities. Similar lawsuits have challenged its labor practices elsewhere. In Washington state, a court ordered GEO to pay more than $23 million in a comparable case.
The Freedom United community is campaigning against GEO Group’s forced labor programs. This decision does not deliver accountability yet. However, it allows the case to move forward instead of collapsing on a technicality. The fight now shifts back to the lower courts.
We will continue to press for transparency, oversight and an end to profit-driven detention systems that rely on exploitative labor. If you oppose forced labor in detention, now is the moment to lean in. Sign and share our petition against GEO Group, and demand an end to profit-driven detention that relies on exploitation.
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