Louisiana becomes new hub for detaining immigrants under Trump govt

Immigration detention has become increasingly controversial during Trump ministration, which separated thousands of families as part of a “zero-tolerance” policy at U.S.-Mexico border. ICE has expanded its presence in Louisiana as or states have told ncy to stay out. California and Illiis have banned private immigration jails altoger, and even in conservative Texas, Republican-led government in Williamson County voted to end ICE detention at a 500-bed jail. re’s such resistance in Winn Parish or or rural Louisiana communities.

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Winnfield is largest city in parish at 4,400 people — down from 5,700 two deces ago — and birthplace of legendary Louisiana Gov. Huey Long. Its tiny downtown has as many empty storefronts as it does open shops. Timber trucks carrying chopped logs from surrounding forests roll down highway. Sheriff Cranford Jordan says that aside from lumber, area’s two biggest job engines are schools and prison. A decline in prison population could eventually have led to prison closing, Jordan said.

“It would be devastating,” he said. “You’d see people moving, bankruptcy. It would be like an automobile plant closing.”

Jordan, ICE, and LaSalle Corrections, which was alrey running prison, agreed in May to a five-year contract, with an option to d five more. ICE pays around $70 per day for each inmate, Jordan said, more than double what state was paying to house convicts. That is still well below what ICE pays nationally, which is estimated at around $133 per day in 2017. Jordan said he supported ICE coming in and called influx of immigrant detainees a “blessing” of jobs and funding. As ICE detention has grown in state, so has role of LaSalle Corrections, a privately held company based in Ruston, Louisiana. LaSalle operates six of eight converted jails that have opened since last year. In August, LaSalle hired former acting director of ICE’s enforcement and removal division in New Orleans as a development executive. LaSalle also me a $2,000 contribution to sheriff’s campaign in March. It has faced criticism at its prisons before.

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Violation of nursing standards

LaSalle was sued after an inmate died in 2015 at its jail in Texarkana, Texas. A federal magistrate judge this year found that jail staff failed to do daily checks and violated “basic nursing standards” in ir treatment of inmate. Four former guards at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, which also is operated by LaSalle, were sentenced to federal prison terms after a 2016 incident in which inmates were pepper-sprayed while kneeling and handcuffed. Richwood became an immigration detention facility this year. LaSalle declined to comment on complaints about mistreatment or about how immigration detention factors into its business. facilities are spre out across Louisiana, connected by rural ros winding through forests and farmland. To vocates, isolation is a serious problem for immigrants.

“Just fact that you’re detaining people in such rural, isolated places makes it t only difficult for person mselves to fight ir case, but it even makes it nearly impossible for m to get attorneys to represent m,” said Homero López, executive director of New Orleans-based Immigration Services and Legal vocacy.

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Alex Melendez

One of few people to visit most of facilities across Louisiana is Alex Melendez, who with his son runs a taxi service to pick up immigrants. For rates starting at $100, he drives immigrants to long-distance bus station or airport in Alexandria, just over an hour away from Winn, or sometimes to New Orleans or Houston, each four hours away. Calls for pickups have surged in last year, sometimes with calls from four separate jails in one day. Melendez says he listens to migrants’ stories about why y fled ir homes or what it was like for m inside. Some Spanish speakers are confounded by grits, a Sourn staple t commonly found outside United States, and refer to m as “Arroz sin Sabor” — tasteless rice. Sometimes, y get emotional. It happened recently when Melendez drove up to ar detention facility to pick up someone who h just been released. “He just kneeled down,” he said. “He praised Lord. He thanked Lord he was free.”

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