(NewsNation) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement will use a section of the Louisiana State Penitentiary as the latest detention center touted by the Trump administration to house “the worst of the worst,” according to Homeland Security officials.
State and federal officials are set to announce a portion of the prison, located in Angola, Louisiana, will be dubbed “Camp 57” as ICE continues to expand the number of detention beds at its disposal for immigrants facing deportation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is joining Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry at a news conference Wednesday announcing the opening of the detention space, previously said she was in conversations with five Republican governors about expansion plans.
Officials said Wednesday that the ’57’ in ‘Camp 57’ honors Landry as the 57th governor of Louisiana.
A spokesperson for Landry did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NewsNation at the time. However, The Advocate reported in August that state officials were in the early stages of an agreement with the White House regarding the use of the Angola prison.
Landry signed an executive order expediting repairs on the “Camp J” site at the prison, which has been abandoned since 2018, according to the report. Louisiana is home to nine ICE processing centers and detention facilities, including four correctional centers and a public safety complex. The ICE facility in Alexandria, which has previously held detainees including Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, is among the largest detention centers in the country.
Officials have not yet announced how many beds will be included at the detention center in Angola, which is surrounded by the Mississippi River and is known as the “Alcatraz of the South.” It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States and includes 4,200 inmates, more than half of whom are serving life sentences.
Since the opening of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in the Florida Everglades, officials have announced the opening of another facility in the Sunshine State, as well as similar centers in Indiana, Texas and Nebraska.
A judge recently ordered Alligator Alcatraz to stop bringing new detainees and wind down operations within 60 days of the order.
The American Immigration Council reported that the $45 billion earmarked by the government for immigrant detention represents a 265% annual increase to ICE’s existing detention budget. The amount is 62% larger than the budget for the entire federal prison system.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association estimated that the daily cost of detaining each migrant in federal custody is around $165. An ICE spokesperson told NewsNation on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s funding bill gives the agency “more resources than ever to arrest, detain and remove” immigrants with a criminal history deemed “the worst of the worst” by the administration.
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