US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has quietly rewritten its detention rules, eliminating the $1-a-day pay requirement for immigrants held in private detention facilities.

Last week, ICE rewrote national detention standards at the direct request of GEO Group, the country’s largest private prison company. GEO Group currently faces class action lawsuits in three states, where detainees are demanding minimum wage for the same work the new rules now exempt from pay requirements entirely.

Helping corporations avoid accountability for forced labor

ICE recently released its revised “National Detention Standards,” introducing changes they say will “reduce the burden” on detention operators nationwide.

At least 50 people have died in ICE detention or shortly after since the start of President Trump’s second term—and the new standards reduce facility liability in the event of further deaths.

GEO Group currently faces dozens of lawsuits—including class action suits in Washington, New Jersey, and Colorado—alleging labor law violations, “deplorable” health conditions, and beatings and retaliation by staff.

Truthout reports,

Reportedly, GEO Group asked ICE to remove regulations that called on contractors to follow state and local laws regarding the treatment of detained people, and to add language supporting GEO Group’s legal position – for example, stating that detainees are not employees at the facilities, thereby waiving the $1-a-day required pay. The new regulations also prevent facilities from paying above the $1-a-day amount — which has for years been decried as amounting to forced labor.

GEO also pushed for language clarifying that detainees are not employees of detention facilities.

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