2024 marked a decade since detained immigrants filed the first modern class action lawsuit challenging labor in immigration detention centers. The cases grew out of public consciousness raised by a May 2014 New York Times Sunday cover story by Ian Urbina exposing alleged abuse and exploitation of federal work programs using the free or nearly free labor of civilly detained migrants and refugees. Urbina drew upon individual experiences of formerly detained individuals, corroborated by federal records about the so-called “Voluntary Work Program” obtained by Northwestern Professor Jacqueline using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation.
Urbina’s reporting and Stevens’ scholarship helped stakeholders connect with people inside to gather facts and expose the legal infirmity of contractors’ excuses for paying detained non-citizens a dollar a day—and sometimes nothing at all. These investigations prompted detained immigrant workers to file lawsuits challenging systems of forced labor, wage theft, and unjust enrichment underlying how contractors obtained indispensable work the government used to facilitate their own detention and removal from the United States. The massive profits reaped from labor-cost savings on the backs of detained migrants’ work fueled rising stock prices for publicly traded companies and their investors.
This update offers a summary of the roughly 15 cases that have been filed so far, and suggests a course they might take going forward.
If the information in this video is all stuff you already knew, but you’re hungry for me, stay tuned for my upcoming Labor in Detention review, which I’ll make available free to subscribes, and offer for purchase later this month. In February, I plan to host a virtual roundtable on the state of work in ICE custody, and the legal challenges to it.
Thank you in advance for any feedback you might offer!
Disclaimer: While I use “we” frequently throughout this video, I speak only for myself. I am not currently counsel for anyone, including the certified classes of detained immigrants I previously represented in some of these cases. Opinions and analyses are solely my own, as are any mistakes and oversights.
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