Jury selection opens in forced-labor trial over $1-a-day pay at ICE detention center

Jury selection began Monday in Denver in a class action accusing the GEO Group of forcing immigrant detainees to work for $1 a day. The jury will be advisory, meaning it helps a federal judge decide whether the company broke federal law ¹. GEO runs the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ¹.

The class covers immigrants held at the facility from 2004 to 2014. They say they faced solitary confinement if they refused to work ¹. Lead plaintiff Alejandro Menocal was held there for three months in the summer of 2014, and eight other named plaintiffs join him ¹.

What the detainees allege

The suit claims GEO violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a federal law against forced labor. It also claims the company was unjustly enriched, meaning it profited unfairly from underpaid work ¹. Menocal says detainees cleaned toilets in the medical unit, stripped and waxed floors, did laundry, cooked meals, cut hair and did clerical work ¹.

GEO’s pay policies violate principles of justice, equity, and good conscience. GEO was unjustly enriched when it paid its employees $1 per day, or nothing at all, for their labor,

Menocal estimates at least 300 detainees are owed more than $5 million ¹. GEO's revenue was $1.52 billion when the suit was filed in 2014. It now regularly tops $2 billion a year ¹.

From Channel GOPAOC: Trump treats top offices like family businessAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez · 155 plays · captioned, with the source named

GEO's defense

GEO says it was following orders from ICE and Congress, which directed contractors to run a voluntary work program paying no "less than $1 per day" ¹. It says the detainees were simply asked to clean up after themselves. It also says segregation is discipline needed for safety ¹.

Imposing liability for compliance with those requirements would not punish GEO for misconduct; it would punish GEO for adhering to the very standards that govern its facility

GEO also claims qualified immunity, a legal shield for some government actors. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane previously rejected that argument ¹. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in February ¹.

Last-minute appeals fail

GEO filed a new appeal on Oct. 23, but Kane would not call off the trial ¹. On Oct. 20 he wrote that GEO's immunity push was "only for the purposes of delay" ². On Oct. 29 a 10th Circuit panel refused GEO's last-minute request to pause the case ².

What happens next

Over the next three weeks, Menocal will try to persuade the judge and jury that GEO benefited from forced labor ¹.

That matters because detention has grown under the Trump administration's immigration policy, and conditions inside facilities are drawing scrutiny ¹. The Aurora center, which has 1,500 beds, is also being sued by the Colorado Department of Public Health over reports of a June tuberculosis outbreak. A GEO employee faces criminal charges on suspicion of opening fire on a protester in July ¹.

The pattern is worth watching. A company paid by the government to hold people is being asked to answer in court for how it used their labor. Whatever the outcome, the $1 daily rate GEO cites as federal policy is now in front of a jury ¹.

The Record

1. Jan 1, 2014Menocal's class action against GEO Group was filed; he was held at the Aurora facility for three months in summer 2014 ¹.
2. Oct 23, 2026GEO filed a new appeal, but the trial judge declined to call off the trial ¹.
3. Oct 29, 2026A 10th Circuit panel denied GEO's request to pause the case ².
4. Nov 2, 2026Jury selection began in Denver for a trial expected to last about three weeks ¹.

Free to reprint Republish this story on your site or in your newsletter

Any site, blog or newsletter may run this story free of charge. Keep the credit line and its link to the original, do not sell it, and edit only for length or house style (the full terms). Photos carry their own licenses, noted under each photo on this page, so use the text alone unless a credit says otherwise.

<h2>Jury selection opens in forced-labor trial over $1-a-day pay at ICE detention center</h2> <p><em>By The GOP Files National Desk. This article first appeared on <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/jury-selection-opens-in-forced-labor-trial-over-1-a-day-pay-at-ice-detention-center">The GOP Files</a> on Monday, November 2, 2026.</em></p> <p>Jury selection began Monday in Denver in a class action accusing the GEO Group of forcing immigrant detainees to work for $1 a day. The jury will be advisory, meaning it helps a federal judge decide whether the company broke federal law . GEO runs the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) .</p> <p>The class covers immigrants held at the facility from 2004 to 2014. They say they faced solitary confinement if they refused to work . Lead plaintiff Alejandro Menocal was held there for three months in the summer of 2014, and eight other named plaintiffs join him .</p> <h2>What the detainees allege</h2> <p>The suit claims GEO violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a federal law against forced labor. It also claims the company was unjustly enriched, meaning it profited unfairly from underpaid work . Menocal says detainees cleaned toilets in the medical unit, stripped and waxed floors, did laundry, cooked meals, cut hair and did clerical work .</p> <blockquote><p>GEO’s pay policies violate principles of justice, equity, and good conscience. GEO was unjustly enriched when it paid its employees $1 per day, or nothing at all, for their labor,</p><p>&mdash; Alejandro Menocal, lead plaintiff, former detainee at the Denver Contract Detention Facility</p></blockquote> <p>Menocal estimates at least 300 detainees are owed more than $5 million . GEO&#39;s revenue was $1.52 billion when the suit was filed in 2014. It now regularly tops $2 billion a year .</p> <h2>GEO&#39;s defense</h2> <p>GEO says it was following orders from ICE and Congress, which directed contractors to run a voluntary work program paying no &quot;less than $1 per day&quot; . It says the detainees were simply asked to clean up after themselves. It also says segregation is discipline needed for safety .</p> <blockquote><p>Imposing liability for compliance with those requirements would not punish GEO for misconduct; it would punish GEO for adhering to the very standards that govern its facility</p><p>&mdash; GEO Group, private ICE detention contractor, pretrial brief</p></blockquote> <p>GEO also claims qualified immunity, a legal shield for some government actors. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane previously rejected that argument . The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in February .</p> <h2>Last-minute appeals fail</h2> <p>GEO filed a new appeal on Oct. 23, but Kane would not call off the trial . On Oct. 20 he wrote that GEO&#39;s immunity push was &quot;only for the purposes of delay&quot; . On Oct. 29 a 10th Circuit panel refused GEO&#39;s last-minute request to pause the case .</p> <h2>What happens next</h2> <p>Over the next three weeks, Menocal will try to persuade the judge and jury that GEO benefited from forced labor .</p> <p>That matters because detention has grown under the Trump administration&#39;s immigration policy, and conditions inside facilities are drawing scrutiny . The Aurora center, which has 1,500 beds, is also being sued by the Colorado Department of Public Health over reports of a June tuberculosis outbreak. A GEO employee faces criminal charges on suspicion of opening fire on a protester in July .</p> <p>The pattern is worth watching. A company paid by the government to hold people is being asked to answer in court for how it used their labor. Whatever the outcome, the $1 daily rate GEO cites as federal policy is now in front of a jury .</p> <p><em>Read the original, with every source linked, at <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/jury-selection-opens-in-forced-labor-trial-over-1-a-day-pay-at-ice-detention-center">thegopfiles.com</a>. Republished under The GOP Files' <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/republish">free republishing terms</a>.</em></p> <img src="https://thegopfiles.com/api/rp/jury-selection-opens-in-forced-labor-trial-over-1-a-day-pay-at-ice-detention-center.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border:0;width:1px;height:1px">

Copy the HTML Paste it into your editor's HTML view. The one-pixel image at the end tells our newsroom the story ran; it stores no reader data.

Sources

1. Courthouse News, “Jury selection begins in detainees’ forced labor trial against ICE contractor” (2026-11-02). courthousenews.com/jury-selection-begins-in-detainees-forced
2. Colorado Politics, “10th Circuit rejects GEO Group request to halt forced-labor jury trial” (2026-10-29). coloradopolitics.com/2026/10/29/10th-circuit-rejects-geo-gro

Found an error? Tell the newsroom. Corrections are noted at the top of the story.