A lawsuit originally filed in 2014 on behalf of plaintiffs Alejandro Menocal, Marcos Brambila, Grisel Xahuentitla, Hugo Hernandez, Lourdes Argueta, Jesus Gaytan, Olga Alexaklina, Dagoberto Vizguerra and Demetrio Valerga accusing the GEO, an organization which runs many immigrant detention facilities and prisons across the United States, of threatening to place detainees in its holding facilities in solitary confinement if they refuse to work, has gained significant traction.  The case for immigrant rights was recently certified as a class action lawsuit now with over 60,000 immigrants alleging they were held in a detention center in Aurora, Colorado, and forced to work for next to nothing – sometimes no more than $1 a day – while awaiting potential deportation.  The class specifically cited violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in their case, which was originally established to help curtail human trafficking in the international sex trade.

Image Courtesy of Sean Ays

The GEO further maintains none of the immigrants were ever put in solitary confinement for refusing to complete assigned tasks.  However, Judge Kane says this doesn’t matter “since the forced labor status includes threats” which the members have stated they were subjected to. All current and former detainees at the GEO facility were automatically added as members of the class upon certification of the case.  Judge Kane noted that members have little funds and, therefore, it is unlikely they would have been able to seek attorney representation and judicial remedies on their own.  Certifying the case will ensure that all members are heard regardless of income level.“All share the experience of having been detained in the facility and subjected to uniform policies that purposefully eliminate nonconformity,” Kane wrote. “The questions posed in this case are complex and novel, but the answers to those questions can be provided on a class-wide basis.”

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Class action suit: Immigrants held in Aurora required to work for $1 a day, threatened with solitary if refusedAurora immigration center detainees join class-action suit