You may be part of a class action lawsuit if you participated in a Work Program at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center (“Adelanto”) located in Adelanto, California.

This Notice explains that the Court has allowed, or “certified,” a class action lawsuit that may affect you. You have legal rights and options you may exercise before the Court holds a trial. The Court has scheduled the trial for March of 2021. The trial is to decide whether the allegations being made against GEO on your behalf are correct. The trial will be held in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit is known as Novoa, et al. v. The GEO Group, Inc., No. 5:17-cv-02514-JGB-SHK.

This lawsuit claims that GEO maintained a practice of wage theft, unjust enrichment, and forced labor against detainees who participated in various Work Programs at Adelanto. GEO denies the allegations made in the lawsuit and argues it has fully complied with the law.

In a class action lawsuit, one or more people called “Class Representatives” (in this case Raul Novoa, Jaime Campos Fuentes, Abdiaziz Karim, and Ramon Mancia) sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. The people together are a “Class” or “Class Members.” The people who sued—and all the Class Members like them—are called the Plaintiffs. The company they sued (in this case GEO) is called the Defendant. One court resolves the issues for everyone in the Class—except for those people who choose to exclude themselves from the Class.

The Court has not decided whether GEO or the Plaintiffs are correct. By establishing the Classes and issuing this Notice, the Court is not suggesting that the Plaintiffs will win or lose this case.

No money or benefits are available now because the Court has not yet decided whether GEO did anything wrong, and the two sides have not settled the case. There is no guarantee that money or benefits ever will be obtained. If they are, you will be notified about how to ask for a share of the benefits.

The Court has decided that the following groups of people, or Classes, are involved in this lawsuit.

1. The Adelanto Wage Class: All civilly detained immigrants who (i) were detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center any time between December 19, 2014 and the date of final judgment in this matter, and either (ii) participated in the Voluntary Work Program at any point during their detention, or (iii) performed work for no compensation in the Uncompensated Work Program pending their participation in the Voluntary Work Program, or (iv) performed work for no compensation pursuant to the Adelanto Housing Unit Sanitation Policy.
    
2. The Adelanto Forced Labor Class: All civil immigration detainees who were detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center any time between May 1, 2011 and the date of final judgment in this matter (the “Adelanto Forced Labor Class”), with the following subclasses:
    
   1. The Work Program Subclass: All individuals who participated in the Voluntary Work Program at any point during their detention; and
       
   2. The Uncompensated Work Program Subclass: All individuals who participated in the Uncompensated Work Program at any point during their detention.

If you are still unsure if you are included in this lawsuit, please email the Notice Administrator at info@GEOAdelantoClassAction.com, or call toll-free at 1-888-383-0320 in the U.S, or at 1-800-062-4329 in Mexico.

The Court has appointed the law firms of Burns Charest, LLP, Ahdoot and Wolfson, PC, and the Law Office of R. Andrew Free as Class Counsel to represent the Classes in this matter. You do not need to hire an attorney in this matter, but you may do so at your own expense.

If you are a member of any of the Classes, you are automatically included, and you do not need to do anything to participate in this class action against GEO. You will be notified if benefits become available.

If you participate in the class action, you will be bound by any court decision in the case, whether favorable or unfavorable. This means that you will receive a share of any benefits the Classes obtain through trial or settlement. This also means that you will lose any right to pursue similar claims for the matters in this case if the court rules against the Classes. You will not be responsible to pay for costs or fees for Class Counsel, but these amounts may be taken out of any recovery in the case. If you choose to participate in the class action, you may also engage an attorney of your own choosing, but at your own expense. If you choose to stay in the Classes, GEO is not permitted to retaliate against you in any way because of your participation in this case.

Yes. If you did not want to be a member of the Classes in this lawsuit, you need to ask to be excluded, or “opt out.”  The deadline to send an exclusion request was December 22, 2020 and has passed. 

If you excluded yourself from the class action, you will not be affected or bound by any rulings, judgment, or settlement in the case. You will retain your rights under the law and are free to sue (or continue to sue) GEO in the future. This also means that you will not share in any recovery that might be paid to Class Members as a result of this lawsuit. The deadline to send an exclusion request was December 22, 2020 and has passed.

No one is permitted to retaliate against you in any way because you chose to participate in or exclude yourself from this class action. Participation in this lawsuit will not affect any pending or future immigration cases.

For more information, you may email the Notice Administrator at info@GEOAdelantoClassAction.com, or call toll-free at 1-888-383-0320 in the U.S, or at 1-800-062-4329 from Mexico.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT WITH INQUIRIES ABOUT THIS CASE.