GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal: Oral Argument

Case Summary: GEO Group, Inc. v. Menocal arises from a class action filed by former and current civil immigration detainees at GEO’s Aurora, Colorado detention facility, alleging that GEO ran two unlawful labor schemes inside the center. First, they claim GEO’s “Sanitation Policy” forced detainees, under threat of punishment such as solitary confinement or loss of privileges, to clean common areas of the housing units for no pay; second, they allege GEO’s “Voluntary Work Program” paid detainees only $1 per day for other facility jobs, unjustly enriching GEO in violation of Colorado law and constituting forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) permits civil class actions by immigration detainees against a private prison contractor like GEO for alleged forced labor in a federal detention facility, and specifically whether such claims are preempted or otherwise barred by federal immigration and detention statutes and regulations governing federal contractors.