Mistrial Interrupts Minimum Wage Case for Immigrant Detainees
U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan of Tacoma declared a mistrial this Thursday after the jury failed to come to agreement. The case was raised against GEO Group over wage concerns. The group was paying immigrant detainees only $1 a day for tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in Washington State. It was Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson that sued the company in 2017, demanding the Florida-based group pay detainees the minimum wage. A separate lawsuit also demanded back pay. Geo Group argued that the detainees were not employees under the Washington Minimum Wage Act. It also said it would be unlawfully discriminatory for the state to mandate Geo Group to pay the minimum wage when the state does not pay the same to its own inmates.
The immigrant detention center that Geo Group operates is one of the largest in the country. It generated $18.6 million in profits in 2018, while it would only cost $3.4 million to pay the detainees a minimum wage. This failure to pay workers fairly is unjust, and reveals the inherent greed of for-profit detention centers.
If you need to talk to an experienced immigration attorney. We’ve helped hundreds of couples traverse the complicated immigration and citizenship process. We would love to help you as well. Call 617-676-0503 or email hello@cambridgeimmigrationlaw.com to get in touch.
Catholic leaders with over 20 bishops met with Vatican representatives and prelates from Central America at an emergency meeting held in Chicago from June 1st to June 2nd to discuss immigration. The meeting, held by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, planned to set forth a welcoming response to immigrants from the Catholic Church. El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz saw the meeting as a counter to recent political decisions against immigrant rights, and the bishop hoped to “
his Monday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the thousands of immigrants living in the United States for humanitarian reasons, ruling them ineligible for permanent residency if they entered the country unlawfully. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion, declaring that permanent residency and TPS designation are separate immigration tracks that can only merge if the TPS recipient entered the United States legally. 
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, announced a new Temporary Protected Status designation for Haiti for eighteen months, beginning May 22nd. This new designation allows Haitian nationals, as well individuals without nationality who last resided in Haiti, to apply for TPS, provided they are already residing in the United States as of May 21st, 2021 and meet certain eligibility requirements. To determine eligibility, all individuals will undergo security and background checks. Current Haitian TPS beneficiaries will also need to file a new TPS application to ensure they do not lose coverage.