For the families of people detained by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), it can be heartbreaking to imagine what their loved ones may be experiencing. One detainee in Georgia, however, has described what allegedly occurs in many ICE detention facilities. According to their account, ICE is outsourcing detainees to companies as a source of low-cost labor, with some reportedly earning as little as $1 per day—if they are paid at all.
The troubling testimony came from Eduardo Zuniga, a detainee who reportedly works in the kitchen at the CoreCivic detention center in Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia. According to evidence compiled by Freedom United, Zuniga sustained multiple workplace injuries, including a torn knee ligament and a shattered toenail that later became infected. Despite these injuries, he was allegedly still forced to continue working in food service.
Zuniga was “Reportedly ‘threatened by CoreCivic guards’ that he would be sent to ‘the hole (solitary confinement)’ if he failed to report for work the following days,” according to the ICE detainee. Forced labor is supposedly justified in the ICE detention centers under the guise of “voluntary work programs”, usually slated for detainees who haven’t been convicted of any crime.
Additional Georgia testimonies indicate that detainees also work for other food industries and food companies whose products enter the U.S. supply chain. In some cases, detainees were reportedly paid just $1 per day, making it difficult to afford even a $5 phone call to loved ones or to maintain any vital connection to the outside world. It remains unclear to what extent food companies or private contractors are “employing” ICE detainees, or whether such arrangements are made directly or indirectly.
People online are calling it slavery
Freedom United didn’t exactly mince words in describing what the forced labor situation looked like in ICE detention centers, citing exceptions in the 13th Amendment where “Forced labor is allowed as ‘punishment for crime’ with due conviction,“ calling the exception a way where “slavery can continue lawfully in states across the nation.”
Meanwhile, people online have shared similar sentiments on the matter, where one commenter even stated that what’s happening is “Slave labor right here in America.” Some have wanted to have the contractors identified so that they can put pressure on the businesses: “If you have a list of businesses using this model, please name and shame so they can be highlighted as places to boycott or place pressure.”
Other commenters, however, have noted that some Georgia U.S. prisons have followed similar practices for years while paying even lower wages. Still, the conditions under which ICE detainees were held make such comparisons debatable.
