In this Sept. 10 photo, workers are shown in the kitchen of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Tacoma during a media tour. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Sept. 10 photo, workers are shown in the kitchen of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Tacoma during a media tour. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Judge plans to dismiss case on wages of immigrant detainees

He said he intends to reverse himself at the urging of the Trump administration.

  • By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press
  • Tuesday, September 24, 2019 1:54pm
  • Northwest

By Gene Johnson / Associated Press

SEATTLE — A U.S. judge who previously ruled that Washington state could pursue its claim that immigration detainees must be paid minimum wage for work at a privately run, for-profit immigration jail said Tuesday he intends to reverse himself at the urging of the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan issued a proposed order notifying lawyers for the state and for the GEO Group, which operates the large immigration detention center in Tacoma, that he plans to dismiss the case. He gave them until Oct. 4 to respond.

“Judges don’t like to reverse themselves,” Bryan wrote. “Sometimes, however, it is necessary — when the law changes or becomes more clear, or when additional facts come to light, or old facts have new impact as the law becomes more clear. So it is here.”

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, sued GEO in 2017, saying the company had relied on detainee labor for work that should have earned them the state minimum wage — currently $12 an hour.

The lawsuit sought to force GEO to give up profits it made by underpaying the detainees, and it has been seen as a test of how well Democratic state officials could resist President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Bryan had repeatedly refused to dismiss the case. He ruled in December that Washington state could pursue its claim that the GEO Group was required to pay minimum wage, instead of $1 a day, for janitorial, kitchen and other duty done by detainees.

While he said it was too early to determine whether the Minimum Wage Act applied to the detainees, he noted that there was nothing in the law that would exempt civil detainees at a privately run jail from being paid minimum wage.

He reconsidered his analysis after the U.S. Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” in the case last month, calling the lawsuit “an aggressive and legally unjustified effort by the state of Washington to interfere with federal immigration enforcement.”

The agency insisted that because Washington does not pay minimum wage for work by its own detainees at state-run facilities, such as the Special Commitment Center for sex offenders on McNeil Island, it discriminated against the U.S. government to require a federal contractor to pay its detainees minimum wage.

In his proposed order Tuesday, Bryan said he especially took note of two rulings, one from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and one from the U.S. Supreme Court, issued in the spring, after his initial ruling in the GEO case.

The new opinions clarified how the constitutional principle of “intergovernmental immunity” applies, he said: Federal contractors must be treated just as the federal government itself would be treated, and because the state cannot discriminate against the federal government under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, it cannot discriminate against GEO.

“If the state is permitted to enforce the Minimum Wage Act against GEO, the cost of civil detention under federal law would be higher than the cost of civil detention under the laws of the state of Washington,” Bryan wrote. “This the state cannot do.”

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

In a written statement, GEO said it abides by national detention standards set out by the federal government, which govern the Voluntary Work Program used at its immigrant detention centers.

“The wage rates associated with this federally mandated program are stipulated under long-established guidelines set by the United States Congress,” the statement said.

GEO’s 1,575-bed facility, previously called the Northwest Detention Center, has recently been renamed the Northwest Processing Center as part of a nationwide rebranding of such facilities.

During a news media tour of the detention center this month, Nathalie Asher, who heads ICE’s enforcement and removal operations in the region, said the name change more accurately reflects the facility’s mission.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

Washington State Ferries said it would deploy its new electric ferries first on the Mukilteo-Clinton run. Additional orders are expected to follow to replace more than a dozen other aging vessels in the fleet. (Photo by Tom Banse)
Washington state to buy new hybrid electric ferries from Florida shipyard

Gov. Bob Ferguson made the final call to turn down a higher bid from a local boat builder.

The Washington state Capitol. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
These Washington laws take effect July 1

Fee hikes for hunting and fishing licenses, workplace protections for immigrants and… Continue reading

Washington will have the nation’s third-highest state gas tax behind California and Pennsylvania.(Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Gas tax will rise in Washington on July 1

Washington’s century-old fuel tax is going up again. On Tuesday, the gasoline… Continue reading

The BEAD program was created under the federal infrastructure law that former President Joe Biden signed in 2021. It was fashioned as a way to expand high-speed internet service into rural areas and other parts of the country where it was unavailable or lacking. (Stock photo)
Feds throw Washington’s $1.2B broadband program into disarray

States spent more than two years preparing to distribute the infrastructure funding, now the Trump administration is making last-minute changes to the rules.

Firefighters undertake a prescribed burn at the Upper Applegate Watershed near Medford, Oregon on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Such burns can help reduce the risk of large wildfires. (Kyle Sullivan, Bureau of Land Management/Flickr)
Trump looks to ‘consolidate’ wildland fire agencies

An executive order signed earlier this month by President Donald Trump would… Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Washington governor’s office
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, center, met with several statewide elected officials on Monday to discuss the how federal funding cuts could impact the state.
Tax collections tumble again in latest Washington budget forecast

The decline in receipts will force the state to draw down savings, but Gov. Bob Ferguson said he isn’t ready to summon the Legislature into a special session.

An EV charger in Granite Falls outside of Granite Falls City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Seattle judge orders Trump administration to unfreeze EV charger funding

The preliminary court ruling would unlock the money for more than a dozen states, including $71 million for Washington.

Nearly three-quarters of acute care hospital inspections were late, as of December, according to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. One facility hadn’t gotten a state inspection since early 2018. (Stock photo)
Washington faces major lag in state inspections of hospitals

Washington state inspectors are way behind in their examinations of hospitals and… Continue reading

A classroom inside College Place Middle School in Lynnwood in 2023. New discipline guidelines for public school students will go into effect across Washington state next month. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Washington updates student discipline rules for public schools

New discipline guidelines for public school students will go into effect across… Continue reading

The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which is one of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the western U.S. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard)
WA looks to strengthen safety net for children whose parents are deported

Detained immigrant parents worried who will pick their children up from school.… Continue reading

An EV charger in Granite Falls outside of Granite Falls City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Seattle judge considers reversing Trump’s EV charger funding freeze

Congress appropriated $5 billion, but the Trump administration stopped it from reaching states. Washington is leading the legal fight to access the money.

Washington’s payouts — known as tort liability — have skyrocketed from $72 million in fiscal year 2018 to more than $281 million last fiscal year. (Stock photo)
Washington state lawsuit payouts skyrocket to more than $500M in past year

Claims against the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families are driving a spike in cases.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.