US EditionSupreme Court rules against private prison firm facing forced-work suit from immigration detainees
The Supreme Court’s denial allows a forced-labor class action by detainees alleging $1-a-day work at GEO’s Aurora center to proceed, marking a procedural setback for GEO Group.
- On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined GEO Group’s request for an immediate appeal of a lower-court ruling allowing a forced-labor lawsuit to proceed.
- Claiming 'derivative sovereign immunity,' GEO Group sought immediate review as a government contractor in a dispute originating from a 2014 class-action by Aurora processing center detainees.
- Plaintiffs allege detainees were compelled to work and punished for refusal, some paid $1 a day or nothing, with GEO Group operating about 77,000 beds at 98 facilities.
- The decision leaves the suit active in lower courts rather than granting immediate review, creating a procedural setback for GEO and keeping claims unresolved.
- Because GEO contracts with federal immigration detention programs, the case could spur scrutiny of private prison contracting and detainee labor practices, with a Washington case yielding over $23 million.
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Colorado Newsline
Montrose Daily PressSupreme Court says forced labor lawsuit against firm operating ICE facilities can move forward
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, operated by private prison firm GEO Group, is pictured on Jan. 30, 2025. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a class action lawsuit challenging the facility's work policies for detainees can move forward Wednesday. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously denied a private prison company’s request to dismiss a class-action lawsuit challengin…
SCOTUS rejects private prison company GEO Group's attempt at avoiding accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously rejected a private prison company’s effort to grant it an expansive new authority whenever it is doing work for the government. GEO Group was asking the justices to establish that “derivative sovereign immunity” protects government contractors — necessary here so that GEO Group could immediately appeal a ruling that it lacked that so-called “immunity” in a case challenging the company’s treatment o…
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected on Wednesday a request from GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private immigration prison operators, to dismiss a lawsuit against it for labor slavery of foreigners detained in a Colorado center. In January 2025, GEO Group asked the highest court to intervene in the 2014 lawsuit filed by immigrants detained in a immigration center in Aurora, Colorado, who alleged violations by the federal law comp…
Supreme Court Won’t Halt Former Detainee’s Lawsuit Against Private Prison Contractor
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Feb. 25 that a private prison contractor will have to face a civil trial in a lawsuit alleging that immigration detainees were illegally made to work for $1 a day. The GEO Group was sued by a former detainee who claimed the company’s inmate work policies violated federal and Colorado law. The company argued it should not have to proceed to trial because its work policies were enforced under the guidanc…
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