Propublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates power abuse. Sign up and receive the biggest story as soon as it’s published.
The Environmental Protection Agency retracted a legal complaint filed against the GEO Group last year. The GEO Group is a major donor to President Donald Trump, who has more than $1 billion in contracts with the administration to operate private prisons and ice detention facilities.
An administrative complaint filed by the EPA in June last year under the Biden administration involved the use of a disinfectant called HALT by the GEO Group at Adelanto Immigration Customs Facility in California. EPA modulates the product and, according to its label, causes irreversible eye damage and skin burns. By law, users will use goggles or face shields, chemical resistant gloves and protective clothing.
However, on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group has forced employees to use disinfectants without proper protection, the EPA complaint alleges. The agency claimed that Geo Group employees were wearing nitrile testing gloves labeled “extra soft” as “not intended for use as a general chemical barrier.” In another pending lawsuit, those detained at the detention center alleged that they were tired of the liberal use of another disinfectant.
A hearing was not yet scheduled before the Administrative Law Judge. The maximum penalty for suspected misuse of a suspension is above $4 million. However, a notice filed Friday by Matthew Salazar, manager of the EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance department, said the EPA’s lawsuit against the GEO group would be removed. The notification provided no explanation.
“This is a complete surrender,” said Gary Jonis, an attorney who worked for the EPA for almost 40 years. “If this is not due to political intervention on behalf of early and large Trump donors that come from the management of ice detention facilities and private prisons, it is at least in part due to the threats that career staff feel in the environment when federal employees are fired and relocated to unwanted tasks and locations.”
A White House spokesman said the GEO Group has “served federal prisons for decades,” and has been a leading federal contractor for many years. The spokesman declined to say whether the White House played a role in the decision to withdraw the complaint, but introduced Propublica to the EPA.
“As a long-standing issue of practice, the EPA has not commented on the lawsuit,” the EPA said in an email. The GEO group did not respond to questions from Propublica. When submitted in response to the EPA complaint, the GEO group confirmed that the employee used the suspension, but said the disinfectant was “always applied in a way that matches the label, location and location.” The company also wrote in court that gloves used by employees are chemically resistant and provide adequate protection.
The Geo Group has close ties with the Trump administration. Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondy was a company lobbyist in 2019. The Attorney General “is fully compliant with all ethical guidance,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said in an email.
The company was the first company to “maximise” by the Political Action Committee on Trump’s contribution to the presidential election. The subsidiary Geo Acquisition II also provided $1 million to Pro-Trump PAC. According to OpenCrets, an independent group that tracks political money, the GEO Group, its PAC and individuals affiliated with the company contributed $3.7 million to candidates and political committees in the 2024 election cycle, compared to $2.7 million in 2020, compared to $2.7 million in 2024. They made a dominant donation to Republicans. In all election cycles since 2016, at least 87% of donations to federal candidates have been sent to Republicans.
Federal Election Commission data shows George C. Zolly, founder of the GEO Group, donated $50,000 to the Community Fund Committee in 2023 to support Republican efforts to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives. Zoley gave Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson the maximum allowed $3,300 per election in 2024 the primary and general election campaigns for the then-elected individuals.
Arizona’s largest county frequently pursues the death penalty. It is rare to secure that statement.
The GEO Group regularly and freely sprayed disinfectants on ice facilities, according to both the EPA complaint filed on behalf of Adelanto Detaines and another civil lawsuit. The EPA complaint did not say whether the employee was injured by pesticides. He accused the company of improperly treating pesticides.
Another lawsuit filed by the Social Justice Law Foundation alleges that Adelanto’s detainees have been sick due to the use of another disinfectant HDQ neutral created by the same company. “Various plaintiffs either had nosebleeds or found blood in their mouths and saliva. Others had debilitating headaches, dizzy and gaze,” the lawsuit states. “As people were eating, Geo staff would spray it and chemical mist would fall on the food. Geo staff were sprayed on the night people were asleep, or at least once, around the sub-beds or cells that sprayed individuals as disciplinary action.”
The lawsuit is still pending. The allegations reflect a warning letter accusing the EPA of previously using HDQ neutrals to inappropriately accusing GEO groups. The letter cited complaints from Adelanto detainees who suffered from “difficulty breathing,” “lung pain,” and skin rashes from disinfectants. The pesticides were sprayed on bedding and then sprayed inside the microwave, according to the EPA. Geo Group told reporters it rejected allegations of using harmful chemicals and refused to follow manufacturers’ instructions. In a court filing, the company said the issue argued by the EPA was “the result of the national emergency relating to Covid-19.” According to the EPA complaint, the judge ordered that HDQ neutrals be stopped in 2020. The GEO Group began using “on or about” outages in March 2022.
Pratheek Rebala contributed the report.
