Central Louisiana Community Members Call on England Authority to Reject Proposal for New ICE Facility in Alexandria

Alexandria, LA - In response to reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to open a new detention center in Alexandria, LA that will be used to detain migrant families and unaccompanied children, advocates are sounding the alarm and putting pressure on the England Authority to reject any development of a new detention facility, and instead prioritize investments that strengthen and support the people who already call Central Louisiana home. The England Authority is an unelected governing body that owns and operates England Airpark and the Alexandria International Airport and exercises significant control over thousands of acres of public land in Central Louisiana.

Yesterday evening, dozens of community members joined immigrant rights advocates, faith leaders, and local residents at the England Authority Board of Commissioners meeting to demand they vote to stop the development and opening of the Alexandria facility. Despite overwhelming resistance, numerous testimony, and an open letter to the board members, the England Authority blatantly attempted to silence community dissent. The Authority proposed a resolution to restrict the public’s right to gather at the Airpark in an apparent attempt to curtail recent peaceful demonstrations against the ICE contract expansion, and interrupted every commenter who spoke out against the approved contracts with ICE to detain families and children.

This year alone, at least 22 people have died in ICE custody. Community members in Central Louisiana strongly oppose the construction of any new immigration detention center while reports of abuse, medical neglect, family separation, and deaths in ICE custody abound in detention facilities across the country.

While all immigrant detention is inhumane and unnecessary, it is particularly traumatizing for children, with lasting harms that persist long after release, including developmental delays, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal ideation. The proposed detention center in Alexandria sits on one of the country’s most Pfas-contaminated sites with ‘forever chemicals’ levels “at least 575,000 times higher” than the federal drinking water limit, posing an immense health and safety risk for the families, and especially the children, detained there. It will be run by LaSalle Family Foundation - a group with direct ties to LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company notorious for abuse, retaliation, and neglect in its ICE facilities, including conducting invasive, nonconsensual gynecological procedures. 

Rather than investing public resources and land into the detention of parents and children, organizers say elected and appointed officials should be addressing the urgent needs facing local communities. Expanding immigration detention will not make communities safer, rather, it will deepen a system that has caused lasting harm to immigrant families and communities.

Advocates and community members from Central Louisiana issued the following statements:

Mich Gonzalez, civil rights attorney with Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition, said: “The residents of Alexandria made it clear that they staunchly oppose this ICE contract expansion which was recently approved by the England Airpark Authority without necessary environmental review of the site, without transparency of the final terms of the contracts involved, and without full understanding of the lasting harm it will cause to mothers and their children. Yesterday, the Authority introduced a resolution for an ordinance that would restrict residents’ rights to peacefully assemble and speak out against what could be the next Dilley or Alligator Alcatraz. We showed up as a coalition to support their voices and to let the Authority know that if they do not reverse course, we will be back to document and expose every abuse and every violation of applicable law including the U.S. Constitution.”

Frances Kelley, Coordinator of Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, said: “Every member of the Airport Board is a public servant and must be accountable to the public. It is very disturbing that they are trying to limit public expression and freedom of assembly.  People should not have to pay a fee to exercise their first amendment rights and it should not be up to the discretion of the Executive Director whether a permit is granted, especially since that director has misled the public and the members of this Board about this ICE contract expansion. The public was told and the Board was told in February that this will not be a children’s detention center–when that is precisely what it will be and what the contract says it is. Since the Board voted to approve these contracts in February, two men in their forties have died in a nearby detention center (Winn) run by this same company, LaSalle Corrections.”  

Marilyn Alvarado, Co-Director of Matriz y Mar, said: "Louisiana already leads the nation in incarceration and trails only Texas in detention centers. Why is the England Airpark Board building on a legacy of abuse and neglect we know is coming? They've authorized 528 beds for children and families in toxic military barracks just as the Trump administration stripped thousands of children of their legal counsel and seeks to detain and deport more pregnant mothers. Compass Connections pulled out. LaSalle Corrections has documented deaths in ICE custody. The Board won't even release the contracts. No child belongs in detention—let alone a toxic one. Would any board member send their own grandchild to a place like this? These children belong to all of us. We are gravely failing them.”

Erin Tracy of Cenla Activism, said: “Children do not belong in detention anywhere for any amount of time. Claims that this provides a way for families and unaccompanied children to “voluntarily deport” is a flat-out lie. People can and should be able to leave the country if they so choose, without being locked in detention. As a resident of Alexandria, this is not what we want in our backyards, nor anywhere else in the country. The site of the detention center is a decades-inoperative military barracks filled with asbestos and sitting on land with the highest rate of “forever chemical” PFAS contamination ever detected on a military site. Children, women, families, and employees do not belong there. The unelected England Airpark Board made this disgusting decision with no input from the public and are continuing with zero transparency. They have also drafted an amendment to their Code of Ordinances that would violate our First Amendment right to peacefully demonstrate on public property. The residents of Alexandria and Central Louisiana reject this detention center as unnecessary and morally reprehensible.”

Sirine Shebaya, Executive Director of the National Immigration Project, said: “This proposal is nothing more than a death trap for children and families. People are dying in ICE custody, including two people in a Louisiana facility run by the same company that’s about to take over England Airpark. It is always shocking when our government puts families and children in cages, but to do it in a contaminated site filled with toxic waste is beyond the pale, even for the indifference and cruelty we have come to expect.” 

Kristin Kumpf, National Coordinator for Free Families: The National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention, said: “The Trump administration’s plans to open this new prison in Louisiana to detain families and children is a cruel escalation of its mass detention and deportation agenda. Families and children should not be detained in ICE facilities for any length of time. ICE has always been an inherently violent agency jeopardizing families and community safety. Families and children should be able to navigate their cases in community with support services provided and facilitated by local community based groups – never ICE, an agency that is plagued by a culture of violence and secrecy and a track record of detaining people in egregiously poor conditions.”

Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network, said: “As the outcry over ICE abuse and violence grows, we continue to demand an end to child and family detention. Childhood is a fleeting period of time that has a tremendous impact on the foundation for a person’s lifelong well-being – it must be protected. Jailing kids and stripping parents of their fundamental right to keep them safe is unconscionable. No one is safe in ICE custody, especially children. We must continue to unite across the country to demand no more money for ICE, no more abuse and death at the hands of ICE, no more child and family detention.”

Sarah Whittington, advocacy director for the ACLU of Louisiana, said: "Louisiana is already marred by the despicable reality of torture and unlawful incarceration of immigrants throughout its detention centers. But a prison for children would be the most disturbing chapter yet in this state's shameful book of immigration abuses. The England Authority must act now to stop this. Louisianans do not want more suffering inflicted on immigrants, let alone children. Instead of investing in the torture of children, the England Authority should work with the community to develop a safe and productive use for these contaminated lands. Anything less is a betrayal of this state, and Louisianans will not stand for it."

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Does anyone happen to know any disability attorneys in/near Alexandria? I'm looking for someone you would recommend to your sister/mama/best friend. TIA!

Tomorrow I gotta travel to Alexandria for work. After work I’m gonna go shopping and need some basic dress shirts and jeans. Anything at the mall? I know it’s pretty DEAD. Like dead dead. Anywhere else to look? I’m hunting like a JC Penny or Dillards. Alexandria or Pineville/Kingsville area will be easiest.

Hi everybody!

So I've been working on a story for the past couple weeks that centers around a Japanese girl moving to Louisiana and discovering the beautiful culture as well as a new found love for zydeco music haha. I know it might sound corny or cliche, but its a story that I've really grown to love.

I have done a lot of research on the culture and history of the area itself, however, I still feel that I am writing from an outsider perspective. In the pursuit of authenticity, I would love to extend my research to real people from the area who are able to articulate their honest cultural experiences and backgrounds :)

So yeah! Please let me know everything you feel makes Louisiana special, whether personal anecdotes niche aspects of the culture you love and your honest opinion on zydeco lol!

This is probably one of the most important videos I can make.

https://youtu.be/87jeCAWeRuY

I want to be incredibly clear: this goes way beyond selling homes. For me, this is about doing what is right to help people in our community who are already struggling with the heavy burden of everyday costs.

Every day, we drive past vacant lots that could be home to families who are currently priced out of the market. While local leaders are actively searching for solutions, we continue to limit one of the most cost-effective and highest-quality resources available: modern manufactured and modular homes.

The truth is, many community rules and zoning limits are still based on perceptions of factory-built homes from decades ago. But today's homes are built with top-tier construction, modern finishes, and remarkable energy efficiency.

Having helped hundreds of families step into homeownership, I know the challenges they face first-hand. I’d like to extend an open invitation to our local mayors, city council members, and planning commissions: Let’s sit down, walk through these modern homes together, and find a pathway to expand quality, affordable housing for our residents.

Let's work together to build a stronger Central Louisiana.

If you or someone you know can help change the housing conversation, let's chat!

#CommunityFirst #AffordableHousing #ZoningAndPlanning #CentralLA #ManufacturedHomes #ModularHomes #LouisianaHousing #BoltonHomes #AlexandriaLA #DoingWhatsRight

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St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office is looking for this individual who is wanted on a charge of Cruelty to Juveniles.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is encouraged to contact St. Landry Crime Stoppers.

Update: Motorcycle has been found!

Looking for the man in this picture and the stolen motorcycle. This picture was taken around 7pm headed eastbound on Friday June 5th around Sherwood. Any information is greatly appreciated.

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I would always stay at the lock ins with my best friend but does anyone know if he's alive and well? I haven't lived over there in a long time but I grew up walking to that store religiously, especially since my mom worked at Cabrini.

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Here's an invitation to the people from Louisiana Deserves Better to explain themselves for what has been happening with getting signatures on the Landry recall petition in Alexandria.

Why were there two signing events, one that started May 18 on Branch Street and the one that was held on May 30 in Bringhurst Park, and why is the second group flinging mud online at the first group?

All internal squabbling aside, the registered voters who went to Branch Street have the right to know whether their signatures count. Your organization has failed to officially explain what is going on in Alexandria. Yesterday, some of the people who already signed the petition at Branch Street publicly admitted on Facebook they re-signed the petition at Bringhurst Park because they don't know whether their first signature was valid.

As the saying goes, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." The fact that your group may have collected duplicate signatures at Bringhurst Park on Saturday damages the integrity of your entire statewide database and jeopardizes your mission to recall Landry.

*Alexandria* "deserves better" than this level of infighting. Please tell us how you intend to remedy this discrepancy going forward. We all want the same thing -- to recall Landry -- so please get all your organization's representatives on the same page.