The U.S. government began transferring migrants to a maximum security prison in Louisiana, the largest in the country, where in the past there have been reports of inmate abuse and overcrowding problems.
“We will have the conditions to have the highest risk migrants and criminals here,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in front of the detention center and cited a dozen names of people from various Latin American countries arrested for various crimes who have already been transferred.
US opens jail for migrants in Louisiana
Kristi Noem highlighted that they are ready to move 200 migrants to the prison and that the governor of Louisiana is supporting to increase the capacity to 400 beds.
“The population of the state should not worry about these criminals, they will not bother anyone,” the secretary added.
So far, authorities have transferred 51 migrants to the prison, known as ‘Angola’.
This follows an agreement between the Louisiana state government and the Trump Administration, similar to those signed with Florida or Indiana, to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention capacity.
DHS has 80,000 bed target
Following the historic appropriation of funds for Trump’s anti-immigration agenda included in the budget package passed by Congress last July, DHS has stepped up its efforts to reach the goal of 80,000 additional migrant detention beds.
Currently, the U.S. holds more than 61,200 migrants behind bars, the highest number in several years.
Nearly half of these, 45%, have no criminal record, according to data compiled by Syracuse University researcher Austin Kocher.
Buzzy
During the ceremony, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the actions of the Louisiana authorities in setting up this prison should be “an example for the rest of the country”.
He added that they will do “everything possible” to keep “criminal” foreign nationals off the streets.
At the Louisiana prison, the migrants will be held in a section known colloquially as ‘The Dungeon’, as most of the cells are used for solitary confinement, according to Fox News.
The prison, located near the Mississippi River in the northern part of the state, was created at the end of the 19th century with the union of several plantations and became a forced labor prison.
Throughout its history, it has been the site of allegations of abuses such as exploitation, mistreatment and death of inmates, earning it the nickname of the “bloodiest” prison in America.
More recently, in 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the government for the mistreatment of minors being held there.
We will have the conditions to have the highest risk migrants and criminals here
Kristi Noem
With information from Agencia Efe
