Working for $1 a day and eating worms: Immigration detainees live in appalling conditions

Protests continue outside a New Jersey detention center in support of those held inside, who are on a hunger strike reportedly in its second week. This report details the appalling conditions at the center and how businesses are being built on the backs of migrant detainees. CBS News.

According to the detainees themselves, GEO Group, the company that operates the facility, feeds them food laced with worms and forces them to work for $1 a day. It is part of a growing network of private companies receiving billions of dollars from the Trump administration for their role in implementing immigration policy.

Nancy Hiemstra and Deirdre Collin, authors of "Immigration Detention, Inc.: The Big Business of Immigrant Detention," argue that more and more communities are effectively being drawn into the immigration detention industry.

On the subject: Trump administration shuts down immigration detention center oversight office

Five years ago, the private prison industry reached a crisis point. Headlines were circulating about declining prison populations, and major investors were leaving the sector. Bank of America announced it would no longer lend to companies operating private prisons. At the same time, the US president signed an executive order phasing out the Justice Department's use of private prisons.

As a result, the industry's largest players—CoreCivic and GEO Group—reoriented their businesses toward migrant care. When Donald Trump returned to office pledging to deport millions of migrants, shares of both companies rose by more than 80%.

"These are public corporations, and their responsibility is to generate profits for shareholders," says Ohio State University immigration law professor Cesar Garcia Hernandez. He explains that this requires cutting costs and increasing revenue. Every additional nurse, every doctor's shift, and even every extra meal are expenses that companies strive to minimize.

Almost all detainees detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement are held in facilities owned or operated by private companies. According to detainees themselves, the conditions of detention are directly influenced by these companies' efforts to cut costs.

At the immigration office in San Antonio, journalists met with Cuban doctor Ilenaida González Ramos and her lawyer Amanda Aguilar.

Ramos was recently released from a detention center near Karn City, also operated by GEO Group. She described harsh conditions: poor food, no heat during snowfalls, freezing temperatures, and instances where food was in short supply or spoiled.

David Gomez spent six months at the CoreCivic facility in Torrance County, New Mexico. He says the system is designed in such a way that detainees essentially become "clients": using a phone or buying items from the prison commissary requires payment, and all services are paid for through a system where the state finances the detainee's incarceration.

As US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began detaining more people, a shortage of space to house them emerged last year. This created an opportunity for companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group to reopen previously idled jails and detention centers.

Many of these facilities were in poor repair. In one center, according to former detainees, the toilets leaked, the rooms flooded, and people were forced to sleep outside their cells. In some cases, they were forbidden from using the toilets and given plastic bags for that purpose.

Former inmates claim that basic sanitary standards and dietary requirements were routinely neglected. One detainee, Jonkel Lima, spent 10 months at the GEO Group facility in Pearsall, Texas. He said food was often spoiled, sometimes with water in it because the food had already begun to spoil, and dishes weren't always washed properly.

Ilenaida Ramos had to spend money on extra food from the prison commissary. In total, this cost her almost $2000, including expensive phone calls to Cuba. At some point, she could no longer afford food and could only spend money on communication with her family.

According to researchers, inmates often spend thousands of dollars on goods at prison commissaries, while failing to provide them with adequate food, medical care, and basic hygiene products. Research shows that prices at these commissaries are four to seven times higher than outside the prison, effectively turning the system into a source of additional profit for operators.

One former detainee says that without the grocery store, he wouldn't have gotten enough protein and would have bought canned tuna, despite not liking it. He says he spent up to $100 a week on food, and a can of tuna cost about $6.

Detainees without funds in their accounts are often forced to participate in so-called voluntary work programs. These programs require them to clean, distribute food, and perform other tasks that support the functioning of the centers. For this work, they are paid $1 per day.

David Gomez worked at a laundromat before his release. He says he had no choice if he wanted to pay for phone calls and shop at the store. Over six months, Gomez spent about $3000 on the store and another $2000 on phone calls.

CoreCivic reported that the water supply issues in Torrance County are related to the local water system. They emphasized that they ensure the safe and proper detention of people in their facilities. GEO Group did not respond to specific questions but previously stated that it is proud of its role in supporting the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 40 years.

The leaders of both companies rarely give interviews. However, last year, CoreCivic's then-CEO Damon Hininger opened trading on the New York Stock Exchange by declaring that the industry was undergoing a period of rapid change and needed to embrace innovation.

A journalistic group in Texas attempted to assess the future of the migrant detention system. Earlier this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent $38 billion purchasing warehouses across the country, including a facility in San Antonio, with plans to convert them into large-scale detention centers.

Some believed this meant a shift away from private contractors. However, this plan was later suspended. David Venturella, a former top executive at GEO Group, became the new head of the service.

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Experts believe this demonstrates the strength of ties between government agencies and private operators. Industry representatives believe they maintain a strong partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security.

As researchers note, the current system reflects the close intertwining of politics and profit. Moreover, the very idea of ​​the need for mass detention of migrants arose largely because this sector was transformed into a profitable industry.

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A Georgian man has died in ICE custody, marking the 50th death in immigration custody under Trump.

ICE jails are seeing a surge in suicides, with young undocumented immigrants with no criminal history taking their own lives.

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