The Trump administration is preparing to open what officials describe as a "first of its kind" detention facility for migrant families and unaccompanied children at Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana, expanding a deportation hub that has become central to federal immigration enforcement.
Local officials say the facility would hold families and children for three to five days in converted military barracks before they are deported.
Lease agreements between the Department of Homeland Security and the airport authority are expected to be finalized soon, with the site potentially opening within 60 to 90 days, according to reporting by The Guardian.
The project would be operated by Compass Connections, a nonprofit that has previously housed migrant children, and the LaSalle Family Foundation, linked to a private corrections company. Compass Connections president Sonya Thompson described the proposed site to the news site as a "first of its kind" facility that would provide services to migrants in their final days in the United States.
Airport officials have framed the plan as a humanitarian initiative distinct from nearby detention operations. But immigration advocates consulted by The Guardian say the compound would function as a detention center regardless of how it is described, noting that many migrants who agree to "voluntary departure" do so under pressure while in custody.
"We've heard story after story of immigrant families who have been really coerced into signing voluntary departure forms," National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention coordinator Kristin Kumpf said. "Many have not been given options, had access to legal counsel or even seen paperwork in their own language.
The proposed center would sit next to an existing Immigration and Customs Enforcement staging facility at the airport that has become one of the country's busiest deportation hubs.
Louisiana has increasingly become a focal point of federal detention operations. The state hosts a cluster of immigration detention facilities run by private prison companies and local jails, a system that expanded significantly during the president's first term and has accelerated again with new federal funding for immigration enforcement.
The administration's push to increase detention capacity comes as the number of people held in immigration custody has risen sharply, with more than 68,000 individuals currently detained nationwide.
Originally published on Latin Times
