PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-2207 DESMOND NDAMBI; MBAH EMMANUEL ABI; NKEMTOH MOSES AWOMBANG, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs – Appellants, and IVAN CHACON CHACON; PRUDENCIO RAMIREZ; HONORE OTAYEMA RECINOS; BOKOLE UMBA DIEU, Plaintiffs, v. CORECIVIC, INC., Defendant – Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Richard D. Bennett, District Judge. (1:18-cv-03521-RDB) Submitted: January 29, 2021 Decided: March 5, 2021 Before WILKINSON, KEENAN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Keenan and Judge Diaz joined. Joseph M. Sellers, Michael Hancock, Stacy N. Cammarano, COHEN MILSTEIN SELLERS & TOLL PLLC, Washington, D.C.; Robert S. Libman, MINER, BARNHILL & GALLAND, P.C., Chicago, Illinois, for Appellants. Daniel P. Struck, Nicholas D. Acedo, STRUCK LOVE BOJANOWSKI & ACEDO, PLC, Chandler, Arizona; Paul J. Maloney, Matthew D. Berkowitz, K. Maxwell Bernas, CARR MALONEY P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. 2 WILKINSON, Circuit Judge: Appellants are former Immigration and Customs Enforcement civil detainees who allege that they are owed wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq., for work performed while detained. The district court dismissed the case on the grounds that this circuit and others have declined to extend the FLSA to custodial settings. For the reasons that follow, we think that task is best left to Congress and thus affirm. I. In 2017, appellants were detained for several months at the Cibola County Correctional Center (Cibola) in Milan, New Mexico, which houses detainees “while their immigration cases are processed . . . to ensure their presence during the administrative process and, if necessary, to ensure their availability for removal from the United States.” J.A. 10. Cibola is operated pursuant to a series of agreements among Cibola County, New Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and appellee CoreCivic, Inc. According to its 2016 Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with ICE, Cibola County is authorized to “detain immigrants on behalf of ICE.” J.A. 9. Cibola County, in turn, entered into a service agreement with CoreCivic, authorizing the for-profit private company “to serve as Cibola’s independent contractor for the care and safety of civilly detained immigrants.” Id. Under its service agreement with the county, CoreCivic is bound by the terms of the IGSA between Cibola County and ICE. This includes providing detainees with “safekeeping, housing, subsistence, medical and other services.” J.A. 118. The contract also requires CoreCivic to operate Cibola in accordance with ICE’s Performance-Based 3 National Detention Standards (PBNDS). These standards mandate that CoreCivic offer and manage a Voluntary Work Program (VWP) for detainees. The VWP aims to “reduce[]” the “negative impact of confinement . . . through decreased idleness, improved morale and fewer disciplinary incidents,” while also providing detainees “opportunities to work and earn money while confined, subject to the number of work opportunities available and within the constraints of the safety, security and good order of the facility.” …
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