The for-profit prison company GEO Group has seen its value soar under President Trump, thanks to a boom in immigration detention. Its stock price doubled after the 2016 election, but despite making billions, the company is still fighting against paying detainees more than $1 a day for cleaning up the facilities where they’re detained.
At the Tacoma, Washington, facility GEO runs for ICE, detainees used to do jobs like cooking, cleaning, and laundry—tasks that would normally require 85 full-time employees. In 2017, Washington sued the company to enforce the state’s minimum wage, which was $11 an hour at the time. In 2021, a federal jury ruled in favor of Washington, ordering GEO to pay the detainees at least the state minimum wage.
Now, GEO is back in court, trying to reverse that ruling. The company has replaced detainees with contract cleaners, preventing them from earning money or doing paid work while the case continues. This ongoing battle is significant because it could affect how private prisons, like GEO and CoreCivic, handle detainee labor across the country.
GEO argues that state minimum wage laws don’t apply to detainees, claiming the state is violating the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The company also doesn’t seem to have trouble paying—its gross profit from the Tacoma facility was about $20 million a year when the lawsuit was first filed. Instead, GEO’s pushback is about setting a dangerous precedent for its bottom line. If the courts side with Washington, GEO might have to raise wages or hire more workers, cutting into its profits.
In the meantime, GEO has put a halt to the Tacoma facility’s “Voluntary Work Program,” leaving detainees unable to pay for things like phone calls home. Some detainees testified they had no choice but to work for the $1 a day, and the sudden stop in cleaning made the facility “really gross.”
Critics, like Mike Faulk from Washington’s attorney general’s office, say the company’s approach highlights the problem of private prisons, where profit is prioritized over basic living standards. One detainee testified that he had to pick insects out of his food because the company budgeted less than $1 per meal.
GEO, however, argues that Washington is unfairly holding its immigration detention facility to a higher standard than the state’s own prisons, where inmates are also paid little. The company also claims the federal government has backed its position, suggesting that GEO is being unfairly targeted.
As the legal battle continues, detainee conditions at the Tacoma facility are getting worse, according to activists. Meal times have been delayed, and with fewer detainees working, outside cleaners are struggling to keep up.
$1 a Day? ICE Contractor Fights to Keep Rock-Bottom Wages for Detainees
