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Forced Labor Overview
Forced labor, while usually associated with slavery and exploitation, may be present in immigration detention centers run by CoreCivic.
According to Anti-Slavery International, forced labor is “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.”
Forced labor is reportedly common in industries that have a lot of workers but very few regulations, including agriculture, fishing, domestic work, construction, mining, quarrying, brick kilns, manufacturing, processing, packaging, prostitution, sexual exploitation, market trading and other illegal activities.
Some 25 million people worldwide are being forced to work, according to Anti-Slavery International, which reports that more than 14 million work in agriculture, construction, domestic work and manufacturing industries and another 4.1 million are working under government or military rules. Some 10 million of those involved in forced labor are children.
Most would assume that forcing labor is equivalent to slavery and therefore illegal. However, this may not be the case in prisons and detentions centers.
The United States’ 13th Amendment states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Although this penal labor is usually voluntary, it may be forced in situations where detainees are threatening with punishment or solitary confinement.
U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) is cracking down on illegal immigration at the behest of the Trump administration. Many detainees are held in official ICE detention centers while others are confined in private facilities contracted by the federal government. These facilities are run by private prison companies, including CoreCivic.
CoreCivic is accused of using its detainees’ “voluntary” services to maintain its facilities. Plaintiffs anbd their supporters argue that the “voluntary” service is instead forced work secured through coercion.
Detainees from CoreCivic’s San Diego facility claim that individuals were paid $1 a day to complete work such as laundry and shop management. The detainees’ class action lawsuit says that peopel being held there were forced to do “voluntary” work, like cleaning their own pods, without getting paid. This work was reportedly secured under threat of “severe mental pain and suffering, solitary confinement and physical restraint.”
Plaintiffs in the CoerCivic class action lawsuit argue that these forced labor practices violate both federal and California laws against human trafficking. The former detainees are asking the court to require CoreCivic to comply with human rights and labor laws on both the federal and state levels. They are also seeking compensation for injuries allegedly sustained during their time at the CoreCivic facility.
