The Trump administration is planning to open a new 528-bed migrant holding facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, located near the Alexandria International Airport (AEX). This proximity is intended to facilitate quicker deportations of families and unaccompanied children by serving as a "staging area" for final flight preparations, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) states that migrants would be held at the facility for a maximum of a few days before their deportation flights or transfer to a detention center. The facility is positioned next to what is described as the nation's largest hub for deportation flights. Data from ICE Flight Monitor indicates that over 4,400 immigration enforcement flights utilized Alexandria International Airport in the past year.
Contractors for the facility have been instructed that families and children held there are in ICE's legal custody and are not to be referred to as prisoners, detainees, or inmates. Additionally, contractors are not to use bars or cages when transporting individuals and are permitted to allow families to wear their own clothing. The facility will not be required to conduct headcounts.
While the facility is being built on the former military base England Airpark, airport officials have described the effort as humanitarian for families who are choosing to self-deport. However, immigration advocates suggest that families and unaccompanied children may sometimes leave due to pressure or a lack of understanding of their options.
Unaccompanied children are typically placed in care of shelters and foster care programs overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services. This agency is not involved in the operation of the new Louisiana facility, according to a spokesperson for the airfield.
The facility is expected to be operational as early as next month and will be run by a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison contractor. Ralph Hennessy, executive director of the England Airpark Authority, stated that the individuals at the facility are "volunteering to go home." ICE signed a contract for the facility's construction late last month.
LaSalle Corrections operates several private prisons and federal immigration detention centers in the southern U.S. The company's nonprofit arm, the LaSalle Family Foundation, will be the official contractor, but LaSalle Corrections will be involved in operations and compliance, according to the company's CFO. Recent reports indicate that two detainee deaths have occurred at a LaSalle-run ICE facility in Louisiana since April. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found that the Winn Correctional Center, also run by LaSalle, violated environmental health and safety, food service, use-of-force, and medical care standards in a recent review.