Chris Wilkinson was quoted in “ICE Detainee Pay Torn Between Immigration and State Wage Law,” an article in Law360*, regarding federal versus state power over immigrant detainee wages.

If these issues go unresolved, complex constitutional questions are at stake, said Christopher Wilkinson, senior counsel with management-side firm Perkins Coie LLP.

"You're now wading into a very complex thicket of constitutional issues," Chris said, "which are not easily resolved and require balancing what GEO [Group] says is a very important federal inherent activity against perhaps the state's ability to regulate the workers engaged in an activity."

"The argument there is that the federal government is being treated worse because there's no exemption for federal facilities," Chris said, "while the state has a specific exemption for state, county and municipal facilities."

*Subscription based article