Working While Detained: Litigating One-Dollar-Per-Day “Voluntary” Labor in U.S. Immigration Detention

Across the United States, immigrants held in for-profit detention centers participate, willingly or through degrees of coercion, in a work program that pays one dollar per day. For decades, the courts affirmed the legality of this practice and swiftly dismissed claims that participants in the program qualified for worker protections. But in the past decade, litigators, advocates, and academics have partnered with detained workers to successfully challenge the legality of these labor schemes, most recently scoring a unanimous victory at the Supreme Court. This Note outlines the various causes of action to claim workers’ rights in private immigration detention, particularly the under-researched but successful state law claims. Drawing on lessons learned from litigation across the country, this Note identifies obstacles to and opportunities for ending the exploitation of detained workers.