New ICE Detention Standards Appear Designed to Help GEO Group Avoid Paying Wages
by Chuck Sharman
New detention standards published by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on August 10, 2026, make several changes reportedly requested by The GEO Group to boost the private prison operator’s defense against lawsuits alleging it cheats immigrant detainees out of a fair wage for their labor.
Since former GEO Group executive David Venturella assumed the helm at ICE in early June, the move is but the latest that suggests “ICE enforcement priorities are being driven by the financial interests of politically connected detention contractors,” as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter to Venturella.
As PLN reported, GEO Group first faced a legal challenge in Washington from immigrant detainees accusing the firm of violating the law by paying them just $1 a day for their labor while held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. GEO Group called the work “voluntary,” but a federal jury didn’t buy it and in October 2021 ordered the firm to pay some 10,000 current and former detainees a total of $17.3 million in back wages—the difference between the $1-per-day payments and the state’s then-minimum wage of $13.69 per hour. GEO Group was also ordered to pay the state almost $6 million more, representing its unjust enrichment from the scheme. A further award for attorney’s costs and fees, plus interest on the unpaid damages, eventually swelled the firm’s total payout to almost $37.6 million. [See: PLN, Dec. 2021, p.26; and Apr. 2022, p.30.]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment on January 23, 2025, and a request for rehearing before the entire Ninth Circuit en banc was denied on August 13. See: Nwauzor v. GEO Grp., Inc., 127 F.4th 750 (9th Cir. 2025) (as amended at 127 F.4th 783 (9th Cir. 2025)); and 146 F.4th 1280 (9th Cir. 2025). A petition for a writ certiorari from the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) to rehear the case was filed on January 9, 2026, and PLN will continue to update developments. See: GEO Grp., Inc. v. Nwauzor, U.S., Case No. 25-828.
Meanwhile, GEO Group’s liability for such payouts spread to its Aurora Detention Facility in Colorado, where another group of immigrant detainees filed a similar challenge after being forced to work for a pittance. As PLN reported, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado certified the case a class-action, denying GEO Group’s claim to derivative sovereign immunity from suit by virtue of its contract with ICE. The firm turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, but it said it lacked jurisdiction because the immunity denial was not a final order, and SCOTUS affirmed in February 2026. [See: PLN, July 2026, p.28.]
The re-election of Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) completely reversed the fortunes of private prison profiteers like GEO Group, as PLN also reported; since ICE maintains little detention space of its own, it is largely reliant on such contractors to hold a detainee population that has surged under Trump. [See: PLN, Feb. 2025, p.55.]
The changes made to the agency’s detention standards since Trump appointed Venturella to serve as acting head of ICE include two that could be vital to GEO Group in defending additional lawsuits like those it is currently fighting in Washington and Colorado. First, whereas the previous standards set the $1-per-day payment for detainee labor as a minimum, the revised rules state that detainees are not employees “and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or labor regulations.” Also gone are prior references to a contractor’s obligation to comply with those local laws and regulations. See: National Detention Standards, ICE (June 2026).
Both changes were made at the explicit request of ICE, the Washington Post reported. ICE claimed that it consulted several “stakeholders” beforehand, but it held no public comment period, which is typical in federal rulemaking. GEO Group’s rival private prison operator CoreCivic was among those consulted, but it was unclear what feedback it provided, if any.
Another legal battlefront opened for GEO Group in a third state in June 2026. Unrelated to detainee wages, the suit filed by New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Raynard E. Washington challenges the firm’s refusal to allow state health inspectors access to the Delaney Hall Detention Facility run for ICE in Newark. Protests have erupted at the lockup over allegations that immigrant detainees were served spoiled food, and three have died in just over six months. See: Washington v. GEO Grp., Inc., N.J. Super. (Essex Cty. Chancery), Case No. 000131-26.
Additional source: Washington Post
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