New ICE rule, requested by top contractor, ends pay requirement for migrants who work while detained
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 Trumps 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.". Its consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight," Michelle Brane told AP. "They are not concerned with peoples 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
littlemissmartypants
(35,282 posts)Thanks for sharing this, BRDS. ❤️
COL Mustard
(8,470 posts)Charged detainees for room and board.
I shouldn't give them any ideas.
ananda
(35,719 posts)Slavery is on the rightwing menu, and not
just for migrants.
slightlv
(8,144 posts)I've been saying this since the corporations gouged us after 911. The R's have a plan, and they've been steadily working on it since the early days of 1940 or so. They've tried various coups, but figured it'd be easier to bring us down from the inside, rather than attacking from the outside. So they did the LIHOP and worked it their advantage. That's my spin, anyway. Their ultimate goal is nothing less than world domination with the rest of humanity as their unpaid slaves.
ananda
(35,719 posts)meaning money can't buy everything.
Lonestarblue
(13,601 posts)They worked them to death and then just brought in more.
Buddyzbuddy
(3,002 posts)As opposed to the Felon in the Whitehouse, most of these people have not been convicted of a felony, but are only being "temporarily" detained for suspicion of misdemeanor civil infractions.
I want Democrats in office that put an end to private prison systems. Specifically, the Geo Group.
NO MORE PRIVATE PRISONS. No more incentives to corporations to profit from incarcerating people.
slightlv
(8,144 posts)and that includes prisons and other detention like centers, also utility companies, etc., should be held in *public* accountability, they should NOT be held by private corporations. They should work like non profits. Where there's a profit motive there's always an environment that harms individuals... either directly or indirectly. It's about time this world grew up to recognize the fact that money corrupts... and more money just means more corruption. We can never have a decent civil society as long as that society is ruled by money. And that doesn't mean I'm against capitalism. As far as I can see, it's one of the least horrible economic theories. However, capitalism, itself, must be regulated with the public good foremost... not the profits of CEO's and others. We're coming into a time when this is going to be paramount as the big wigs start forcing more and more AI into every aspect of our lives. And AI may or may not gain consciousness (I doubt it), but the harm it can do as a programmed learning module is immense. It'll be learning from the CEO's of companies like these for profit prisons, and end up imprisoning all of us in one way or another. Just my opinion... YMMV, of course. But I see regulation and rules to protect us from all these encroachments as paramount to the way of life we want to live.
Buddyzbuddy
(3,002 posts)Whip-poor-will
(588 posts)Running concentration /extermination facilities can be challenging for the mentally challenged, morally bankrupt among us.
Figarosmom
(14,441 posts)Them space. This sounds like their could be some real problems at these sites and who's to say there won't be uprisings?
2naSalit
(104,535 posts)On the horizon.
Joinfortmill
(21,865 posts)This will be a stain on the U S.A. for a very long time.
tanyev
(49,882 posts)They hate that migrants have been getting paid for it, instead of working for free.
GiqueCee
(4,981 posts)... I don't think they have the legal right to just up and say, "We don't need no stinkin' laws!" But then ICE, and Trump, think they're the Law unto themselves, and accountable to no one.
And the Roberts Court will concur in 3... 2... 1...
bluedigger
(17,462 posts)Luciferous
(6,623 posts)this administration.