ICE contractor GEO Group in Aurora reaches settlement in lawsuit alleging forced labor of detainees
GEO Group has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed more than 10 years ago alleging that its Aurora, Colorado, detention facility violated forced labor statutes.
The lawsuit alleged that the facility violated the state's minimum wage and forced labor laws by paying detainees $1 a day to work at the facility, sometimes under threat of solitary confinement. It was filed in 2014 on behalf of former detainees Alejandro Menocal, Marcos Brambila, Grisel Xahuentitla, Hugo Hernandez, Lourdes Argueta, Jesus Gaytan, Olga Alexaklina, Dagoberto Vizguerra, and Demetrio Valegra. The detainees said they were used to do janitorial work.
When the lawsuit was filed, Menocal told CBS Colorado, "It's their job to run the facility, and instead they used and abused us to run the facility, and that's why we're suing."
Hans Meyer, an attorney who represented the plaintiffs, said the class action lawsuit claimed the GEO Group was threatening detainees with solitary confinement to force them to do jobs that it would otherwise have had to fill from out in the community at higher rates of pay.
A judge dismissed the claim that the facility violated Colorado's minimum wage law by paying detainees $1 a day, stating they did not qualify as employees under state law. However, he did allow the lawsuit to proceed on allegations that GEO unjustly profited from the detainees and violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which prohibits forced labor.
Brandt Milstein, one of the plaintiff's attorneys, said there was a key difference between inmates working below minimum wage in state and privately run prisons and civil immigration detainees because they "are not being held for any criminal violation."
In 2018, a United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruling allowed a district court's decision to permit the nine plaintiffs to file the suit on behalf of approximately 60,000 people.
Following that 2018 decision, GEO Group told CBS Colorado, "We intend to continue to vigorously defend our company against these claims. The terms of the voluntary work program at all federal immigration facilities are directed by the Federal government and governed by federal law. All ICE facilities operated by GEO, including the Aurora ICE Processing Center, are highly rated and provide high-quality services in safe, secure, and humane residential environments that meet the needs of individuals in the care and custody of federal immigration authorities pursuant to the Federal government's performance-based national detention standards."
The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2025. The GEO Group argued that, as a federal government contractor, it cannot be held liable for actions performed within the scope of federal authority and in compliance with government directions, also known as the Yearsley defense. The lower court ruled that the case should go to trial, and GEO immediately tried to appeal before the trial began.
The Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled 9-0 that the Yearsley defense does not provide immunity from suit and denied GEO Group the right to an immediate appeal.
According to court documents, GEO and the plaintiffs reached a settlement on Monday. The notice says that, after filing the motion for preliminary approval, they will work to get the court's final approval and notify and distribute funds to those included in the settlement. It did not state the settlement terms.
The details of the agreement have not yet been made public. Meyer said he could not share the terms of the agreement yet due to a court-issued gag order, but he welcomed the deal in a statement:
"I think on behalf of the plaintiffs that we represent, we're happy about the resolution. I mean, obviously, I think things could have turned out different, and we were definitely ready for trial, and were ready to hold you accountable," said Meyer. "But at least in terms of the focus here, really, is that this is a day in which our clients, people in the community, had their voices heard, finally. After 12 years of litigating, a trip to the Supreme Court and four trips to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, we finally reached a resolution in this case that, at the very least, recognizes the claims that our clients brought, which had to do with being forced to work under threat of solitary confinement and being coerced and manipulated into working for $1 a day so that GEO could maximize its profits for corporate shareholders."
CBS Colorado has reached out to the GEO Group for a response, but has not yet heard back.