Forced Labor Allegations at Immigration Facility Headed to Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving private prison operator GEO Group, which seeks to appeal a lower court's decision denying it governmental immunity in a class action lawsuit alleging forced labor at an immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2014, claims that GEO violated federal anti-trafficking laws by threatening detainees with solitary confinement if they refused to work for $1 per day.

The Supreme Court will not yet address the merits of the case, but rather whether the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals erred in ruling that it could not immediately consider GEO's immunity appeal, as reported by The Associated Press.

GEO Group, on the other hand, argues that it should be granted the same legal protections as the government when performing governmental functions:

"The alternative is a legal backdoor through which activists can undermine policies with which they disagree by targeting contractors with lawsuits they could never bring against the government"

GEO Group has a long history of controversy. Last year, detainees at GEO-run facilities in California staged hunger and labor strikes to protest what they describe as unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, including poor medical care and expired food.

Allegations of mistreatment have also come to light. In March 2025, a GEO-employed officer at the Montgomery Processing Center in Texas was charged with choking a handcuffed detainee. GEO said the officer was terminated and the incident referred to ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Financial and political ties have also raised questions for the private prison giant. Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, recently raised eyebrows when it was revealed he received consulting fees from a GEO subsidiary before reentering public service in 2025. Critics, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have warned of potential conflicts of interest as GEO continues to secure federal contracts.

GEO operates more than a dozen civil immigration detention centers across the U.S. The company maintains that its work programs are voluntary and that its $1-a-day payment complies with federal standards. However, in a separate case, the 9th Circuit upheld a $23 million judgment against GEO for failing to pay minimum wage to detainees in Washington state.

A ruling in favor of GEO by the Supreme Court could have broad implications for federal contractors seeking immunity from lawsuits related to government functions.