This month, #NewJersey sued #GeoGroup for refusing to allow #state #health inspectors full access to its #DelaneyHall facility, in #Newark, where the state says detainees have staged hunger strikes to protest being fed spoiled or rotten food & not being given access to basic #hygiene products. Geo’s lawyers have said in court filings that only #ICE can grant state inspectors access to the facility [wrong, #Congress can too].​

#law #Trump #immigration #HumanRights #CivilRights #PrivatePrisons

As the #Trump admin has ramped up arrests of #immigrants, it has relied on #GeoGroup to help it significantly expand the nation’s capacity for holding #ICE detainees. Advocates for immigrants & some #state regulators say poor #oversight at many of these facilities has led to the mistreatment of migrants.

#law #Trump #immigration #HumanRights #CivilRights #PrivatePrisons #ForThePeopleByThePeople

Geo’s input in the new “standards”, which has not been previously reported, highlights the #ICE contractor’s influence over the agency that is both its #regulator &, corporate filings show, its biggest customer.

2 of the #Trump admin’s top #immigration ofcls — border czar #TomHoman & ICE’s acting director, #DavidVenturella — previously worked for #GeoGroup….

#law #Trump #HumanRights #CivilRights #PrivatePrisons #ForThePeopleByThePeople

The new national #detention standards, which #ICE posted to its website Monday, include some of #GeoGroup’s requested changes. The document says detainees are not employees & “are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable #wage #laws or #labor #regulations.”

The revised rules no longer say detainees must be paid at least $1 per day, & no longer include several references to contractors having to comply with #state or local laws.

#law #Trump #immigration #HumanRights #CivilRights

#GeoGroup maintains that the work is “voluntary” & that it operates the program at the direction of the #government.

Geo asked that #ICE remove lines saying contractors needed to follow state & local #laws around the treatment of detainees & that ICE amend language to support its #legal position in these cases…. The company also asked that the standards specify that detainees are not employees of the facilities where they work.

#law #Trump #immigration #HumanRights #CivilRights #PrivatePrisons

When #ICE was revising the federal #standards that govern #immigration #detention centers, one of its top contractors privately asked for changes that could benefit its business, acc/to a person briefed on the discussions.

#GeoGroup, which oversees more than a dozen ICE detention facilities, has faced #lawsuits in 3 states alleging it violates #MinimumWage #laws by paying some #immigrant detainees $1 a day to work.

#law #Trump #HumanRights #CivilRights