New ICE rule, requested by top contractor, ends pay requirement for migrants who work while detained [View all]
Source: The Independent
Tuesday 16 June 2026 17:37 EDT
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement eased its operating standards for migrant detention centers after being asked by a company that runs more than a dozen facilities, according to a report Tuesday. The new rules, posted online Monday, no longer require private prison contractors to comply with state and local laws, or to pay migrants at least $1 a day to work for them, The Washington Post said.
The move came after The Geo Group — which formerly employed two of President Donald Trump's top immigration officials and made hefty donations to Trump’s 2025 inaugural fund and a Trump-aligned super PAC — was sued in three states for allegedly violating minimum wage laws, The Post said.
The founding faculty director of Northwestern University's Deportation Research Clinic, Jacqueline Stevens, told The Post that ICE can't just supersede employment laws by changing its rules for contractors. "ICE cannot magically wipe out those protections," Stevens said.
A former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman who oversaw migrant detention practices during part of the Biden administration also told The Associated Press that the revised standards were "100 percent" sure to "result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention.". “It’s consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight," Michelle Brane told AP. "They are not concerned with people’s basic rights or safety of detainees.”
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/migrants-ice-detention-law-geo-group-b2996910.html
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