A wage-and-hour lawsuit in Washington state against the private operator of an immigrant detention center is illegally interfering with federal immigration enforcement efforts, the Trump administration says.
The lawsuit brought by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the GEO Group is violating Washington’s Minimum Wage Act by paying immigrant detainees only $1 a day for a voluntary work program developed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The state says the program isn’t actually voluntary.
Under the program, detainee volunteers perform tasks such as collecting and distributing laundry, preparing and serving food, cleaning, painting interior walls, and cutting hair.
The administration’s brief ...