Detention Center Contractors Line their Pockets by Exploiting Immigrant Workers with $1 Per Day Pay
WASHINGTON D.C. — An estimated 86% of the more than 60,000 immigrant detainees currently held in custody are housed at detention centers run by a handful of for-profit corporations who are reaping immense financial benefits by paying detainees $1 per day to cook, clean, and maintain these facilities, according to a new Public Citizen report.
Here are some highlights of the report:
- The meager $1 a day pay that immigrant detainees earn working in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities is usually only good to acquire items at the corporate run commissaries within the detention centers that charge highly inflated prices for basic necessities. At these rates, it may take a detainee more than three days of work to purchase a can of tuna fish or more than two days of work to purchase a bar of soap.
- The contractors are reaping huge benefits by avoiding having to pay immigrant detainees minimum wage. The profits of GEO Group, the largest ICE detention contractor, jumped from $32 million in 2024 to more than $254 million in 2025, as the Trump administration dramatically expanded the number of ICE detention centers and government contracts exploded.
- There are currently seven federal court cases challenging the $1 a day pay in five states, including Washington, California, Colorado, Georgia, and New York. Last year, in one case involving a detention center in Washington State, the court found the contractor, GEO Group, owes thousands of detainees more than $17 million in back pay and the state nearly $6 million for “unjust enrichment.” The contractor, however, has appealed to the Supreme Court.
“The private contractors running immigrant detention centers are pocketing millions of dollars in profits as tens of thousands of detainees struggle to afford to purchase a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste,” said Douglas Pasternak, Public Citizen researcher who authored the report. “The dichotomy between the contractors’ profits and the detainees’ pay is outrageous. This entire $1 a day pay scheme is economically unjustifiable, fundamentally unfair, and morally reprehensible.”