Case: 18-15081 Date Filed: 02/28/2020 Page: 1 of 24 [PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-15081 ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 4:18-cv-00070-CDL WILHEN HILL BARRIENTOS, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, MARGARITO VELAZQUEZ-GALICIA, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, SHOAIB AHMED, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, versus CORECIVIC, INC., Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ________________________ (February 28, 2020) Case: 18-15081 Date Filed: 02/28/2020 Page: 2 of 24 Before HULL and MARCUS, Circuit Judges, and ROTHSTEIN, * District Judge. HULL, Circuit Judge: In this case, Appellees Wilhen Hill Barrientos, Margarito Velazquez-Galicia, and Shoaib Ahmed, current and former alien detainees, brought a class action lawsuit against Appellant CoreCivic, Inc., a private contractor, which owns and operates the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia (“Stewart”). Stewart is a federal immigration detention facility where aliens are held during the pendency of removal proceedings or for other reasons related to enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws. At Stewart, CoreCivic, as a private contractor, is required to operate what is referred to as a “voluntary work program,” through which detainees may perform work for compensation. Appellees’ complaint alleged that, far from operating a “voluntary” work program, CoreCivic coerces alien detainees to perform labor at Stewart by, inter alia, the use or threatened use of serious harm, criminal prosecution, solitary confinement, and the withholding of basic necessities. Appellees’ complaint asserted that CoreCivic’s labor scheme violated, and continues to violate, the forced-labor prohibition in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (“TVPA”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589, 1594–95, and Georgia law. The TVPA subjects to criminal and * Honorable Barbara J. Rothstein, United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington, sitting by designation. 2 Case: 18-15081 Date Filed: 02/28/2020 Page: 3 of 24 civil liability “[w]hoever” knowingly obtains the labor or services of a “person” by any one of the prohibited coercive means explicitly listed in the TVPA. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589(a), 1595. CoreCivic moved to dismiss the complaint, contending that the TVPA does not apply to a private government contractor or cover labor performed in work programs by alien detainees in lawful custody of the U.S. government. Although it denied the motion, the district court certified for immediate appeal the narrow, purely legal question of “[w]hether the TVPA applies to work programs in federal immigration detention facilities operated by private for-profit contractors.” See 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). We granted CoreCivic’s petition for permission to immediately appeal the district court’s order. After review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we conclude that: (1) under the plain language of the statute, the TVPA covers the conduct of private contractors operating federal immigration detention facilities; (2) the TVPA does not bar private contractors from operating the sort of voluntary work programs generally authorized under federal law for aliens held in immigration detention facilities; but (3) private contractors that operate such work programs ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals