Illegal aliens who claimed they were forced to clean toilets while in detention have launched a lawsuit for at least $5 million.  Those must have been some really dirty toilets!

Tens of thousands of immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were forced to work for $1 day, or for nothing at all – a violation of federal anti-slavery laws – a lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit, filed in 2014 against one of the largest private prison companies in the country, reached class-action status this week after a federal judge’s ruling. That means the case could involve as many as 60,000 immigrants who have been detained.

The lawsuit, filed against GEO Group on behalf of nine immigrants, initially sought more than $5 million in damages. Attorneys expect the damages to grow substantially given the case’s new class-action status.

The original nine plaintiffs claim that detainees at the ICE facility are forced to work without pay – and that those who refuse to do so are threatened with solitary confinement.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims, six detainees are selected at random every day and are forced to clean the facility’s housing units.

Detainees work for up to eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, cleaning bathrooms, showers, toilets, windows, patient rooms and staff offices, waxing floors, and preparing and serving meals. 

Sorry, but the illegal aliens don't have valid legal claims.  Have a look at the 13th Amendment:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Simply put: Incarcerated persons have no constitutional rights in this arena; they can be forced to work as punishment for their crimes.

Those of you who are legal scholars or have watched movies like Shawshank Redemption will know this.  In Shawshank, the character played by Tim Robbins volunteered for very low-paying jobs, trying to shake the pursuit of the local LGBTQ community.

The reason prisons can pay little or nothing is because of the 13th Amendment.  People in prison have much fewer rights.  One of the biggest rights they lose is their freedom, and their choice of action, or, in some cases, inaction.

But if they get the right judge, it's conceivable these illegals could cash out – and you, the taxpayer, will pay for it.  Who knew that cleaning a toilet could pay so well?

Exit question:

1) Are there some jobs, perhaps, that illegal aliens just won't do?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.