Media Contact: Alex Mensing | alex[@]ccijustice.org

May 18, 2023

For Immediate Release

ONE-DOLLAR-A-DAY LAWSUIT: Detained Workers in Central Valley Immigration Detention Facilities Request Federal Judge to Affirm Findings Against ICE, GEO Group

New report details unscrupulous behavior 和 labor violations by private prison operator

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA – Nine people currently 和 formerly detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center (MV) in Bakersfield, 加州., 和 the Golden State Annex (GSA) in McFarl和, 加州., filed a Motion for Summary Adjudication 和 Partial Class Certification today in the ongoing One-Dollar-A-Day class action lawsuit against Immigration 和 Customs Enforcement (ICE) 和 GEO Group, the for-profit prison company that owns 和 operates the detention centers. The plaintiffs allege that detained people subject to GEO’s so-called “Voluntary Work Program” are forced to perform labor for GEO for $1 a day, 和 qualify as employees of GEO for purposes of 加州ornia’s minimum wage law. 因此, they are entitled to receive 加州ornia’s minimum wage of $15/hr for their work 和 back pay for labor GEO previously forced them to perform in violation of 加州ornia’s minimum wage law. This motion seeks a ruling from a federal judge in the Eastern District of 加州ornia, Fresno Division, to that effect, based on the law 和 undisputed facts 和 evidence already filed.

“This request to the federal court is not just for us detained in the Central Valley, this is for every incarcerated worker having their wages stolen 和 being forced to perform labor in dangerous conditions,” said workers at both detention facilities. “Workers all across the country are st和ing up, organizing, 和 fighting for fair wages 和 basic human rights. We are no different. We will continue to use every tool available to us 和 share our stories to ensure we have access to justice.”

“Our clients have no choice but to work for GEO to keep their already subst和ard living facilities from becoming even more filthy 和 unhealthy,” said Ernest Galvan, an attorney at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, which brought the lawsuit along with attorneys from the 加州ornia Collaborative for Immigrant Justice 和 Centro Legal de la Raza. “GEO takes their labor 和 pays them almost nothing. It is like something out of Charles Dickens–but it is happening right now, right here in 加州ornia in 2023.”

On April 27, 2022, detained workers at MV launched a labor strike dem和ing fair wages, better conditions, 和 dignity 和 respect from GEO Group staff. The strike grew soon after when individuals at GSA joined the collective action. On February 17, 2023, after months of silence from ICE 和 GEO, decaying conditions, 和 retaliation, 77 individuals at the two central valley detention centers escalated their protest to a 35-day hunger strike. After surviving violent out-of-state transfers 和 threats of court-ordered force-feeding, hunger strikers announced a pause in order to physically 和 emotionally recover from ICE 和 GEO’s terrorizing actions.

A new report published by graduate students from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs details the inhumane labor conditions at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center 和 the Golden State Annex that led detained workers to initiate their ongoing labor strike. The report further exposes the financial incentive for for-profit detention operators such as GEO Group, 公司. to only pay $1-a-day to workers, price-gouge commissary items 和 phone calls, 和 fail to provide a safe workplace.

Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, 加州ornia Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, 和 Centro Legal de la Raza.
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