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The BulleTin • Thursday, June 3, 2021 A3 LOCAL, STATE & REGION LOCAL & REGIONAL BRIEFING WASHINGTON STATE Do immigrant detainees deserve minimum wage? Issue goes to trial BY GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE — After nearly four years of litigation and pandemic-related delays, a trial is underway to determine whether the GEO Group must pay minimum wage to de- tainees who perform cooking, cleaning and other tasks at its immigration detention center in Washington state. Detainees are typically paid $1 per day when they work shifts in the Voluntary Work Program at the for-profit Northwest detention center in Tacoma. The state’s minimum wage is now $13.69 per hour. Attorney General Bob Fer- guson and some detainees filed separate lawsuits against GEO in 2017, arguing that the company’s contract with the federal government requires it to follow state and local laws — including Washington’s Minimum Wage Act — and that GEO, one of the nation’s largest private detention com- panies, unjustly profited by paying so little. Tacoma-based U.S. Dis- trict Judge Robert Bryan, who has rejected several attempts by GEO to dismiss the law- suits, consolidated the cases for trial, which he is conduct- ing via Zoom because of the pandemic. Jury selection hap- pened Tuesday. “These cases are not about whether the government’s contracting with private enti- ties to operate detention facil- ities is a good or bad policy,” Bryan told potential jurors Tuesday morning. “These cases are also not about United States’ immigration Ted S. Warren/AP file Workers in the kitchen of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, during a media tour in 2019. GEO Group runs the for-profit detention center. “By relying on detainee labor, GEO avoided the cost of hiring non-detainee workers and unjustly pocketed the savings and resulting profits.” — The Washington state attorney general’s statement policy or border issues.” In 2014, amid a hunger strike by detainees, immigrant rights activists tried to con- vince the governor’s office and the state Department of Labor and Industries that detain- ees should be paid minimum wage for work performed there. After reviewing the matter, Labor and Industry officials determined that Washington didn’t have jurisdiction over the federal government’s de- tainees for purposes of wage issues, according to public re- cords obtained by GEO and filed in the case. In 2017, amid a flurry of lawsuits over the new Trump administration’s immigration policies, Ferguson reached a different conclusion, saying GEO was exploiting Washing- ton residents. Trump’s Justice Depart- ment sought — and failed — to have Washington’s law- suit against GEO lawsuit dis- missed, calling it “an aggres- sive and legally unjustified effort by the state of Washing- ton to interfere with federal immigration enforcement.” GEO opened the deten- tion center in 2005 and has expanded it twice. It houses people accused of civil im- migration violations pending the resolution of their cases, including potential deporta- tion. It can now hold 1,575 detainees, though because of pandemic-related concerns the population recently was about 250. In a separate effort, the state is trying to close it entirely. GEO insists it is immune from the minimum wage lawsuits by virtue of its re- lationship with the federal government. At any rate, the detainees are not “employees” entitled to minimum wage, it argues. U.S. Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement requires private detention facilities to operate work programs for detainees as a way to reduce their boredom and improve their morale, GEO argues. The company doesn’t have a choice but to offer the pro- gram even if the tasks as- signed are redundant or if the detainee lacks skill — “ineffi- ciencies that would never be tolerated in an employee-em- ployer relationship,” GEO ar- gued in a trial brief. Washington state, however, argues that the federal gov- ernment requires detainees to be paid “at least” $1 per day; nothing prevents the company from paying more. “By relying on detainee la- bor, GEO avoided the cost of hiring non-detainee workers and unjustly pocketed the sav- ings and resulting profits,” the attorney general’s office wrote in its trial brief. Further, GEO deprived local residents of jobs they might otherwise have worked, the state says. The trial could last several weeks. COCC to offer geospatial science degree program Central Oregon Commu- nity College will offer a new as- sociate degree program in geo- spatial science starting this fall. Students will learn how to an- alyze and collect real-time spa- tial data — information about specific points on Earth — and how to incorporate that in maps, as well as environmental and so- cial justice work, according to a COCC press release. Employment opportunities in cartography are expected to grow by 4% between 2019 and 2029, according to the U.S. Bu- reau of Labor Statistics. Students who earn their as- sociate degree in geospatial sci- ence from COCC will be able to easily transfer to the similar bachelor’s degree program at Oregon State University, the re- lease stated. Teen accused in hoax explosive plot in Portland A 19-year-old who was ar- rested and accused of dis- mantling a card reader and intercom in the driveway of a federal building in Portland late last year had a suspicious bottle inside her backpack that drew a response from the city’s bomb squad, federal authorities say. The bottle’s label warned: “DO NOT OPEN CONTAINS: U-DIMETHYLHYDRAZINE TRIETHYLALUMINIUM WILL IGNITE IF EXPOSED TO AIR,” next to a hand-drawn colored hazmat placard, accord- ing to a federal complaint. Federal Protective Service agent Micah Coring consulted with a forensic chemist with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo- sives, who concluded the name and labeling on the bottle indi- cated a “self-igniting Molotov Cocktail,” the complaint says. The discovery led the Port- land Police Bureau’s bomb squad to respond to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in south Portland on Dec. 19. It wasn’t until days later that authorities learned the pur- ported explosive was a hoax. Rowan L. McManigal, who federal agents say was carrying the bottle in a backpack that night, was interviewed days later and admitted the bottle only contained water and was “meant to waste people’s time,” Federal Protective Services agent Micah Coring wrote in the complaint. McManigal was one of three people who appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Port- land, accused of vandalizing the ICE field office or another federal building in Portland. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo released McMani- gal from custody pending trial with the conditions that she not return after business hours to the ICE building or other federal buildings in Portland. She’s due back in court July 1. Feds: Seattle man arrested trying to join ISIS The Justice Department says a 20-year-old Seattle man has been arrested after trying to join the Islamic State terror group. A criminal complaint un- sealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle said Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams was arrested Friday as he checked in for a flight to Cairo. The complaint described him as self-radicalized and said he came to the agency’s attention when members of a Seattle-area mosque reported concerns. The FBI said Williams posted a video of himself on- line pledging loyalty to the ter- ror group, also known as ISIS. — Bulletin staff and wire reports SIZZLING SUMMER SALE Hot Prices Throughout Both Stores! Swivel Glider $699 FREE Foundation or FREE Pillows with mattress purchase FREE DELIVERY & SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE* *Subject to credit approval. See store for details 2071 S. Hwy 97, Redmond 541-548-2066 • www.wilsonsofredmond.net • 63485 N. Hwy 97, Bend 541-330-5084
