US Labor Board Drops Case Over Prison Company’s Treatment of Detained Immigrants
Workers in the kitchen of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, in 2019.
Photographer: Ted S. Warren/AP PhotoThe US labor board has abandoned its case accusing GEO Group Inc. of retaliating against detained immigrants, signaling a different enforcement approach under President Donald Trump.
In a Jan. 6 complaint, the National Labor Relations Board had accused the private-prison company of subjecting detainees to punishments including solitary confinement because they protested over pay and working conditions and supported labor strikes. The workers’ attorneys have said they were doing tasks including cleaning and maintenance for $1 a day, and described the case as an important precedent to show such detainees were protected by US labor law.