GEO Group seeks dismissal of lawsuit over detainee pay
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge is considering whether to throw out two lawsuits, including one by the state of Washington, that seek to force one of the nation's largest privately run immigration detention centers to pay minimum wage for work done by detainees.
The GEO Group, the for-profit company that runs the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, is asking U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan to dismiss the cases, saying Washington doesn't have authority to bring the lawsuit and that the state's minimum wage law is overridden by Congress' decision to set rates for work performed by detainees.