TACOMA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) told Washington state that the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity barred it from mandating the payment of minimum wage to detainees who reside in privately operated federal detention facilities, according to a statement of interest the U.S. filed during the previous administration.
“The United States submits this Statement of Interest to address an aggressive and legally unjustified effort by the State of Washington to interfere with federal immigration enforcement,” wrote DOJ Attorney Christopher M. Lynch in the pleading.
“The State of Washington excludes its state inmates from the minimum wage—and according to state policy documents, pays them as little as thirty-four to sixty-five cents an hour—yet it seeks to impose the state minimum wage of $12 per hour for individuals in federal immigration detention. This is a quintessential violation of intergovernmental immunity principles.”
Despite the warning, on Oct. 27, a jury decided in favor of requiring a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility operated by the GEO Group in Tacoma to pay detainees more than $13 an hour for menial labor based upon the state’s minimum wage.
The GEO Group is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and has asked for a stay of enforcement of the combined $23.2 million verdict and judgments.
The jury verdict could set a precedent for inmates nationwide to be paid minimum wage for their work while detained.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued The GEO Group in 2017, alleging it should be treating the detainees - persons in the custody of federal immigration authorities while their immigration status is being determined by the federal government - as employees. The lawsuit claimed that work performed by detainees was essential and that GEO was unjustly enriched by relying on its volunteer work program to operate the Tacoma facility.
Ferguson declined to comment.
Issues expected on appeal include the following.
-The supremacy clause is the argument that the United States Congress is in charge of immigration policy and the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction ICE facilities, which are federal detention facilities and the state doesn't have jurisdiction to intervene with how those facilities should be operating.
-The Fourth Circuit, which includes two judges appointed by former Pres. Obama ruled 3-to-0 that the detainer-detainee relationship is incompatible legally with an employer-employee relationship.
-Inter-governmental immunity in Ndambi v Corecivic provides that a state cannot have legal conditions that are better for itself and for the federal government when it's regulating.